the 
university  of 
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THE  COMPLETE  WORKS  OF 
LYOF    N.    TOLSTOI 

WAR 
AND  PEACE 

Vols.    I-II 
THOMAS   Y.   CROWELL   CO. 

PUBLISHERS     :      :      :      :     NEW  YORK 

lo^ix. 


Copyright,  189S, 
By  THOMAS  Y.  CKOWELL  &  CO. 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

Men  occasionally  appear  who  by  the  force  of  their 
personality  challenge  the  attention  of  mankind.  Their 
message  may  not  be  altogether  welcome,  but  we  listen 
to  it  perforce.  We  may  not  accept  it,  but  we  become 
conscious  that  it  is  affecting  the  thought  of  our  time, 
and  unconsciously,  perhaps,  is  changing  our  own  lives. 

Such  a  man  is  Count  Lyof  Nikolayevitch  Tolstoi, 
Few  have  seen  more  widely  contrasting  phases  of  life, 
have  experienced  a  more  inclusive  experience  of  the 
whole  gamut  of  human  life  and  passion.  Born  into 
the  higher  circle  of  the  Russian  aristocracy,  serving  in 
.the  army  of  the  Caucasus  and  during  the  Crimean  war, 
received  into  the  intimacy  of  the  best  writers  of  his 
day,  he  has  gradually  worked  his  way  up  to  the  loftiest 
plane  of  ethical  Christianity,  and  now,  repudiating  the 
form  of  his  former  literary  activity,  he  preaches  a  doc- 
trine of  equal  labor  for  all  men,  of  non-resistance  no 
matter  what  the  provocation  may  be,  and  of  a  literal 
acceptation  of  the  words  of  Christ  regarding  most  of 
the  points  of  Christian  profession  and  practice. 

Striking  out  from  the  highway  of  Fame  and  Success, 
he  seems  to  be  the  personification  of  Russia's  tradi- 
tional peasant-hermit  who  lives  in  the  forest  and  turns 
the  leaves  of  the  golden  book,  and  with  infallible  instinct 
answers  even  the  most  difficult  questions  that  are  pro- 
pounded to  him. 


vi  EDITOR^S    PREFACE 

Count  Tolstoi  himself  in  ''What  is  Art"  very  dis- 
tinctly  states  his  own  judgment  of  his  works.  Those 
that  he  has  written  for  his  peasant  readers  he  regards 
as  his  best.  Those  that  he  wrote  for  Art's  sake  he 
places  in  a  lower  category.  But  a  man  cannot  put  his 
life-work  out  of  sight,  and  the  world  has  with  wonderful 
unanimity  accepted  his  earlier  stories  as  masterpieces, 
which  no  one  doubts  will  retain  their  place  among  the 
masterpieces  of  universal  literature.  It  is  an  interesting 
and  instructive  task  to  trace  the  development  of  Count 
Tolstoi's  "  Doctrine  "  from  its  first  germs  in  his  earliest 
sketches  through  "  War  and  Peace  "  even  to  his  purely 
religious  works.  It  will  be  found  that  the  fundamental 
tendencies  of  his  writings  have  ever  been*  the  same. 
The  dazzling  and  multifarious  episodes  of  his  romances, 
drawn  from  every  phase  of  life,  have  been  like  the 
debris  piled  on  the  bottom  granite  of  the  religious 
theory. 

From  either  point  of  view  it  is  remarkable;  in  the 
books  written  for  Art's  sake,  simply  as  novels,  the  ethi- 
cal background  is  noticeable ;  in  the  later  stories,  writ- 
ten for  the  sake  of  the  doctrine,  the  supreme  art  of  the 
story-teller  is  no  less  manifest.  He  can  rid  himself  of 
neither.  In  either  case  he  holds  his  unique  place  as 
one  of  the  greatest  writers  of  all  time. 

A  new  and  uniform  edition  of  Count  Tolstoi's  works 
has  been  long  a  desideratum,  and  the  present  series  of 
volumes  aims  to  present  practically  everything  that  has 
proceeded  from  his  pen.  Not  only  have  they  been 
translated  from  the  original  with  the  approval  of  the 
author,  but  especial  pains  have  been  taken  to  give  them 
full  and  complete  revision.  Thus  "  My  Religion."  which 
has  hitherto  existed  only  in  a  version  made  from  the 


PRINCIPAL    CHARACTERS    IN    "WAR    AND 
PEACE" 

Count  Kirill  Vladimirovitch  Bezvkhoi  [Graf  A^ir-i\  Vlah-At^-meer-o-vitch 
Be-zoo-ho-ee'].  A  wealthy  old  grandee  of  the  Empress  Catherines 
time.  At  his  death  his  illegitimate  son  Pierre  inherits  his  title  and 
estates.  ^  ..  _  _      ^ 

Honsieur  Pierre,  afterwards  Count  Piotr  Kirillovitch  Bezukhoi  IPee-o-ir 
Ki-x\\-o-vitch,  shortened  into  Kiriltch\  The  old  count's  illegitimate 
son,  educated  abroad,  and  easily  led  both  into  dissipation  and  into 
idealistic  theories  of  life,  "  gentle,  emotional,  weak  of  will,  but  full  of 
human  desires."  He  marries  first  the  Princess  Ellen,  and  afterwards 
the  Countess  Natasha  Rostova. 
Prince  Nikolai  Andrevevitch  BoLKONSKY  \^Kniaz  (K-nee-az)  Nee-ko-\^\\-ee 
An-^x'^-ye-vitch  (or  An-Axh-yitch)  Bol-\^ow-skee\  A  harsh  martinet, 
full  of  old-time  prejudices,  living  a  bitter,  lonely  life  at  his  estate  of 
Luisiya  Gorui  (Lwee-:f^^-j^  Gor-^^),  or  Bald  Hills:  father  of  Prince 
Andrei  and  the  Princess  Mariya.  ^ 

Prince  Andrei  Nikolayevitch  CNikolaitch)  BOLKONSKY  S^Kmaz  An-dre-ee 
Nee-ko-\zki-ye-vitch  ;  ( Ni-ko-\k\v-itch').     Also  called  Andre  and  Andre- 
yusha    (^An-dre-^oo-sha)'\.      Adjutant   or  aide   to  General  Kutuzof; 
wounded  at  Austerhtz;   proprietor  of  Bogucharovo  {^Bo-goo-iz\vi\i-ra- 
■     val ;  engaged  to  Countess  Natasha  Rostova. 
Prince  Nikolai  Andreyevitch  (Andreyitch)  Bolkonsky  [JiTftiaz  JVee-^o-\ih-ee 
,     An-dxe-ve-vi^c/i  (or  An-drc-iU/i)'].     Called  by  the  pet  names  Niko- 
lusha,   Nikolenka    INee-koAoo-shsi,  Nee-\iQ-len-ka\,  Prince   Andrei's 
baby  son. 
Princess  Yelizavieta  Karlovna  BOLKONSKAYA  {nee  Meinen)  yK-nee-a-^t^- 
nya  Yel-ee-zahv-y€t-a  Kiv\-ov-na  Bol-kon-ska-ya'].     Known  as  Liza 
or  Lise  ;    Prince  Andrei  Nikolayevitch's  wife,  who  dies  in  giving  birth 
to  the  little  Nikolusha. 
Princess  Mariva  Nikolayevna  Bolkonskaya  [J^-nee-azk-na.  Mah-ree-ya  Nee- 
koAih-yev-na],     Known  as  Marie,  Masha,  Mashenka  \^la.-sheit-ka]', 
afterwards  the  Countess  Rostova  \_Gra4etn-ya  '^os-to-va']. 
Prince  Vasili  Sergeyevitch  (or  Sergeyitch)  Kuragin  [ICttiaz  Va-?,Q&-lee  Sier- 

ge-h-ye-vitch  (or  Sier-gee-e-itch)  Koo-xih-gheen'].     Vasili  is  Basil. 
Prince    Ippolit  Vasilyevitch    Kuragin   ^JCniaz  Ip-o-\tti   Va-%te\-ye-viich']. 
In  the  diplomatic  service,  but  dissipated  and  foolish.     "  Le  Charmant 
Hippolyte." 
Prince  Anatol  Vasilyevitch   Kuragin    \^Kniaz   An-a-t6\    Va-seel-ye-v/^c/i}. 
A  spendthrift  who  aspires  to  the  Princess  Mariya  Nikolayevna's  hand, 
but  proves  himself  unworthy. 
Princess  Yelena  Vasilyevna  Kuragina   \^Kniazhna    Yel-Q-na    Va-see\-yev- 
na  Koo-x3.\\-gee-na'].     Also  known   as   Ellen,  Helene,  Elena,  Lyolya 
\_L-\6-l-ya'],  afterwards  the  unfaithful  wife  of  Pierre  Bezukhoi, 
Count  Ilya  Andreyevitch  (or  Andreyitch)  Rostof  [Graf  Il-^k  An-dve-yf- 
vitch  R6s-/o/].    A  wealthy  but  extravagant  proprietor  or  pomyeshchik 
\_pom-yks  tchik\  whose  affairs  go  from  bad  to  worse. 
xix 
\ 


XX  PRINCIPAL   CHARACTERS  ^ 

Count  Nikolai  Ilyitch   Rostof  \^Graf  Nee-ko-\i:\\-ee  //-yi'tch].     Known  )is 

Nikolenka  \^Nik-6-len-ka\  Nikolushka,  Kolya,  Koko.    Open-hearted, 

gallant,  generous;    serving  in   the   cavalry;   at   first   engaged  to  his 

cousin  Sonya,  afterwards  married  to  the  Princess  Mariya  Bolkonskaya. 
Count  Piotr  Ilyitch   Rostof  [Graf  Pee-6-tr  //-yi'tch].     Known   as   Petya 

[Pet-ja],  Petrushka,  Petenka. 
Countess  Natalya  Rostova  {nee  Shinshina)  {^Grafinya  Na-til-ya  R6s-fov-a; 

Shin-s/iin-k']. 
HCountess  Vierallyitchna  Rostova  [Cr^z/mj^  Vee-Q-ra  II-y\ich-tia  R6s-to-va'\. 

Known  also  as  Vierushka  [Vee-e-roosh-ka'],  Vierotchka  {Vee-k-rotch- 

ka].     Afterwards  married  to  Alphonse  Karlitch  Berg. 
Countess  Natalya  Ilyitchna  Rostova  [Grafinya  Na-\.2\-ya  //-yitch-na  Ros- 

^o-va'].     Also  known  as  Natali,  Natasha  [A'^a-ta.-s/ia^.     Engaged  to 

Prince  Andrei  Bolkonsky,  but  after  his  death  married  to  Count  Pierre 

Bezukhoi. 
Sofya  Aleksandrovna  Shinshina  (?)    [Sof-ja  A/-ex-d.n-drov-na^.     Known 

as  Sophie,  Sonya  [S6-n-ya],  Sonyushka  [^6-u-yoosA-/ka^.     The  niece 

of  the  Rostofs;   engaged  at  first  to  Count  Nikolai  Rostof;   "a  sterile 

flower." 
Alphonse  Karlovitch  (or  Karluitch)  Berg.    A  conceited  young  officer,  who 

"gets  on,"  and  marries  the  Countess  Viera  Rostova. 
Prince  Boris  Drubetskoi  [JiTitiaz  Ba-rh  Droo-bet-%Vo-ee'\.    A  relation  of  the 

Rostofs  ;   he  is  cold,  calculating,  and  selfish,  and  through  influence  is 

rapidly  advanced.     Known  also  as  Borenka  [Bo-ren-Zca]. 
Princess  Anna  Mikhailovna  Drubetskaya  [Kniagina  Anna  J/z'-hah-^^-^z/. 

naDroo-bet-%\i.-ya].     Poor  but  intriguing  ;   the  mother  of  Boris. 
Julie  Karagina  [Ka-xk-ghee-na].     Afterwards  marries  Boris. 
Princess  Yekaterina  Semyonovna  Mamontova 

[Kniazhna    Ye-kat-e7--te-na    Sem-yon-ov- 

na  Mih-mon-to-va].    Known  as  Catherine, 

Katish  [A'a-teesh],  Catiche. 
Princess  Sofya  Semyonovna  Mamontova. 
Princess  Olga  Semyonovna  Mamontova. 
Vasili    Feodorovitch    Denisof   [Fa-see-/ee    Fee-o-do-ro-vitch    De-nee-so/l. 

Gallant  soldier  arid  poet,  in  love  with  Natasha.     Know^n  as  Vaska. 
Feodor   Ivanovitch    Dolokhof   [Fee-od-or  Fe-vin-o-viU/i  Dol-o-Ao/].     A 

gambler  and  roue,  who  ofl'ers  himself  to  Sonya,  but  is  rejected ;   brave 

but  bad. 
Marya  Ivanovna  Dolokhova  [Mar-^ya  Fe-vin-ov-na   'DoVo-ko-va'].      The 

fond  mother  of  Feodor. 
Marya  Dmitrievna  Akhrasimova  [^lir-ya  T)mtt-tree-ev-na  Ah-khra-sim- 

o-va'\. 
Piotr  Nikolayevitch  Shinshm  [5^m-sheen]. 

Prokhor  Ignatyevitch  Timokhin  [Pro-hor  Ig-nki-ye-vitch  Tim-o-hin\ 
Osip  (or    losiph)    Alekseyevitch    Bazdeyef   \0-sip  A-lex-k-y^-viich  Baz- 

d6-ye/].     The  Freemason,  Pierre's  "  Benefactor." 
Marya  Ignatyevna  Peronskaya  [Mar-_y^  /g-nit-yev-na  Pe-v6n-ska-ya']. 
Platon  Karatayef  [Pla-ton  Ka-ra-tih-yef].     The  philosophical  peasant ; 

also  known  as  Platosha  and  Platoche. 
Pelageya  Danilovna  Milyukova  [Pel-a-g&-ya  Dan-^^-lov-na  Mil-voo-\i(y-va\ 
Anna  Pavlovna  Scherer  [Piv-Zov-fta].     Lady-in-waiting  to  the  empress. 
Mikhail  Nikanorovitch  [A/ee-hi-i/  Nee-ka-xiox-o-vitch'].     The  little  uncle. 
Mile.  Amelie  Bourienne,  sometimes  called  Burienka. 


Pierre's  three  cousins. 


INTRODUCTION 


COUNT  TOLSTOI  in  the  early  sixties  began  to 
write  a  noyel,  the  characters  of  which  were  in- 
tended to  portray  some  of  the  surviving  members 
of  the  famous  December  conspiracy  of  1825,  return- 
ing to  the  emancipated  Russia  of  1856.  He  wrote  one 
chapter  of  this  novel,  which  was  entitled  the  **  De- 
kabrists,"  but  his  mind  was  irresistibly  drawn  back  to 
the  conspiracy  itself,  and  finally  to  the  first  causes  of 
the  conspiracy,  which  lay  in  the  fateful  epoch  of  the 
first  quarter  of  this  century.  Thus  originated  "  War 
and  Peace." 

This  panoramic  novel  was  published  between  1864 
and  1869.  In  the  original  it  has  upwards  of  2000  pages, 
and  contains  not  far  from  650,000  words.  Yet  in  spite 
of  its  multiplicity  of  characters  there  is  no  confusion  in 
the  delineation  of  types.  Count  Tolstoi's  brother-in- 
law,  Professor  C.  A.  Behrs,  says :  "  There  is  no  doubt 
that  in  '  War  and  Peace '  Prince  Nikolai'  Andreyevitch 
Bolkonsky  and  Count  Ilya  Andreyevitch  Rostof  are 
intended  to  represent  the  Count's  grandfathers,  Prince 
Volkonsky  and  Count  Tolstoi."  He  also  thinks  that 
his  mother,  the  Princess  Mariya  Volkonskaya  is  the  pro- 
totype of  Prince  Andrei's  saintly  sister ;  his  father, 
Count  Nikolai  Ilyitch,  that  of  young  Lieutenant  Rostof, 
though  the  story  of  his  capture  by  the  French  is  trans- 
ferred to  Pierre's  experiences.  G.  H.  Perris  says  :  *'  One 
feels  that  the  writer  must  have  split  his  own  soul  in 
twain  to  make  those  two  chief  figures  of  Prince  Andrei 
Bolkonsky  and  Count  Pierre  Bezukhoi  —  the  proud  and 
elegant  gentleman,  cold,  skeptical,  even  as  to  the  power 
of  reason,  yet  visited  with  spasms  of  spiritual  anxiety 
especially  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  whom  he  has  de- 


X  .   INTRODUCTION 

spised ;  and  then  the  more  typical  Slav  —  gentle,  emo- 
tional, weak  of  will,  but  full  of  humane  desires."  And 
he  adds,  "  Every  character  is,  indeed,  in  a  sense  which 
can  hardly  be  used  of  any  o^ther  modern  artist,  the  over- 
flowing of  some  side  of  his  own  opulent  and  varied 
character." 

In  this  novel,  which  is  an  implicit  protest  against 
war,  we  have  a  kaleidoscopic  succession  of  life-views. 
One  follows  the  other  without  confusion,  naturally,  with 
entrancing  interest.  ''The  court  and  camp,  town  and 
country,  nobles  and  peasants,  —  all  are  sketched  in  with 
the  same  broad  and  sure  outline.  We  pass  at  a  leap 
from  a  soiree  to  a  battle-field,  from  a  mud  hovel  to  a 
palace,  from  an  idyl  to  a  saturnalia.  As  we  summon 
our  recollections  of  the  prodigal  outpouring  of  a  care- 
less genius,  a  troop  of  characters  as  lifelike  as  any  in 
Scott  or  in  Shakespeare  defile  before  our  mental  eye. 
Tolstoi  finds  endless  opportunities  of  inculcating  his  fa- 
vorite themes:  the  mastery  of  circumstance  over  will 
and  desire,  the  weakness  of  man  in  the  front  of  things, 
and  the  necessity  for  resignation." 

But,  not  alone  as  a  novel  is  *' War  and  Peace"  re- 
markable. It  is  the  basis  and  illustration  of  a  theory 
of  Fate.  Count  Tolstoi'  shows  that  the  great  man  is  as 
much  a  puppet  as  the  merest  soldier ;  Napoleon  or  Ku- 
tuzof  or  Bagration,  seeming  to  direct  great  movements, 
were,  in  reality,  no  more  the  efficient  cause  of  them 
than  the  striking  of  the  clock  is  the  cause  of  a  sunset. 

In  support  of  this  theory,  Count  Tolstoi  introduces 
the  great  men  of  those  famous  Napoleonic  days,  and 
shows  how  they,  as  well  as  men  unknown,  were  led, 
often  with  eyes  wide  open,  into  courses  where  destruc- 
tion infallibly  awaited  them.  His  arguments  on  this 
subject,  scattered  here  and  there  through  the  book, 
were  extracted  without  change  and  published  in  France 
in  a  separate  volume  entitled  "  Napoleon  and  the  Rus- 
sian Campaign."  The  epilogue  has  also  been  published 
by  itself  under  the  title  "  Power  and  Liberty." 


CONTENTS 


PART   I  (1805) 

CHAPTER   I.     Page  i 

Soiree  at  Mile.  Scherer's.  Discussion  with  Prince  Vasili  about  politic* 
Mile.  Scherer's  proposal  that  Anatol  Kuragin  marry  the  Princess  Mariya. 

CHAPTER   H.     P.  7 

Mile.  Scherer's  drawing-room.  The  old  aunt.  The  Princess  Bolkon- 
skaya.     Pierre.     Anna  Pavlovna  as  mistress  of  ceremonies. 

CHAPTER   HI.     P.  II 

The  various  groups.  The  Viscount  Montemart.  Discussion  of  the 
murder  of  the  Due  d'Enghien.  Ellen  the  beautiful.  The  story  of  the 
duke  meeting  Napoleon  at  Mile.  George's. 

CHAPTER   IV.     P.  18 

The  Princess  Drubetskaya  urges  Prince  Vasili  to  forwarc!  the  interests  of 
her  son  Boris.  The  value  of  influence.  Discussion  of  the  coronation  of 
Bonaparte'  at  Milan.  The  viscount's  views  of  matters  in  France.  Pierre's 
eulogy  of  Napoleon.     Pierre's  smile.     Prince  Ippolit's  story. 

CHAPTER   V.     P.  2-] 

Description  of  Pierre.  Pierre  and  Prince  Andrei  arguing  about  war  and 
Napoleon. 

CHAPTER   VI.     P.  32 
The  princess  joins  the  gentlemen.     Almost  a  family  quarrel. 


Xll 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VII.    P.  35 

Prince  Andrei's  advice  to  Pierre  never  to  marry,  and  his  reasons.    Pierre 
promises  to  give  up  taking  part  in  Anatol's  dissipations. 

CHAPTER   VIII.     P.  39 
Pierre  breaks   his   promise  and   goes   once  more.     The  scene  at  the 
Horseauard    barracks.      The    wager    between    Stevens    and    Dolokhof. 
Character  of  Dolokhof.      Dolokhof  drains  the  bottle,  and  wins  the  fifty 
rubles.      Pierre's  frolic  with  the  bear. 

CHAPTER  IX.  P.  46 
Boris  Drubetskoi  attached  to  the  Semyonovsky  regiment  of  the  Guards. 
The  Princess  Drubetskaya  visits  the  Rostofs  at  Moscow.  The  Countess 
Rostova.  Her  dignity.  The  countess's  name-day  reception.  Talk  about 
the  old  Count  Bezukho!  and  his  illegitimate  son.  Account  of  Pierre's  frolic 
with  Anatol.     Possibility  of  Pierre  inheriting  a  name  and  fortune. 

CHAPTER  X.     P.  51 
Irruption  of  the  children.     Natasha  Rostova  at  thirteen.      Nikolai  Rog- 
tof.     Characteristics  of  Boris  Drubetskoi. 

CHAPTER  XI.     P.  54 
Sonya  the  niece;   compared  to  a  kitten.      Her  jealousy.     The  Countess 
Rostova  and  Mme.  Karagiua  discuss  children's  education.     Appearance  of 
the  Countess  Viera. 

CHAPTER  XII.     P.  59 
Nikolai  comforts  Sonya  in  the  conservatory.      Natasha's  mischievous 
kiss.     Her  engagement  to  Boris, 

CHAPTER  XIII.     P.  61 
Viera  shows  her  character  to  her  brothers  and  sister.    The  countess  and 
Anna  Mikhailovna  have  a  confidential  talk.       The  princess  acknowledges 
her  want  of  money.     Determines  to  call  upon  Count  Bezukhoi. 

CHAPTER   XIV.     P.  66 
Boris  and  his  mother  drive  to  Kirill  Vladimirovitch's.     Anna  Mikhal- 
lovna's  interview  with   Prince  VasiH.      Prince  Vasili's  opinion  of  Count 
Rostof.     Boris  sent  to  Pierre. 


CONTENTS  xiii 


CHAPTER  XV.    P.  71 

Pierre's  visit  at  his  father's  house.  The  count's  three  nieces  receive  him 
like  "  a  ghost  or  a  leper."  Pierre  left  severely  to  himself.  Pierre  and 
Boris.  Pierre's  confusion.  Anna  Mikhailovna's  zeal  for  the  old  Count 
Bezukhoi's  salvation. 

CHAPTER  XVI.    P.  77 

Count  Rostof 's  manner  of  raising  seven  hundred  rubles.  The  countess 
presents  the  money  to  Anna  Mikhailovna. 

CHAPTER  XVII.     P.  80 

Marya  Dmitrievna  Akhrosimova.  Shinshin  and  Berg.  Berg's  defense 
of  his  ambition.  His  egotism.  Arrival  of  Pierre.  Description  of  Marya 
Dmitrievna.  Her  semi-humorous  attack  upon  Pierre.  The  count's  dinner- 
party.    Girls  in  love. 

CHAPTER  XVIII.     P.  87 

Animated  conversation.  Colonel  Schubert's  defense  of  the  emperor's 
manifesto.  Nikolai's  interest  in  the  war.  His  enthusiastic  speech.  Nata- 
sha's mischievous  remark  about  the  ices. 

CHAPTER  XIX.     P.  91 

Sonya's  sorrow.  Natasha's  sympathy.  Sonya  offers  to  sacrifice  herself. 
The  four  young  people  sing  "  The  Fountain."  Natasha  dances  with 
Pierre.     Count  Rostof  dances  "  Daniel  Cooper  "  with  Marya  Dmitrievna. 

CHAPTER  XX.     P.  97 

Count  Bezukhoi  receives  his  sixth  stroke  of  apoplexy.  Scenes  at  the 
mansion.  Prince  Vasili's  interview  with  the  Princess  Katish.  Discussion 
of  Pierre's  chances  of  the  inheritance.  Prince  Vasili's  scheme  for  prevent- 
ing it. 

CHAPTER   XXI.     P.  106 

Anna  Mikhailovna  takes  Pierre  to  his  dying  father.  She  promises  to 
look  out  for  his  interests.  They  discover  Prince  Vasili  and  the  Princess 
Katish  in  consultation.     Scene  in  the  anteroom. 


xiv  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XXII.     P.  Ill 

Glimpse  of  Count  Kirill  Bezukhoi.  Description  of  the  bedroom.  Thfl 
ceremony  of  extreme  unction.  Prince  Vasili's  strange  action.  Pierre 
kisses  his  father's  hand.     The  count's  last  look. 


CHAPTER   XXIII.     P.  117 

The  midnight  scene  in  the  petit  salon.  Altercation  between  Anna 
Mikha'ilovna  and  Katish.  Anna  Mikhailovna  rescues  the  mosaic  portfolio. 
The  struggle  for  the  same.  Death  of  the  count.  Effect  of  the  count's 
death  on  Prince  Vasili.  Anna  Mikhailovna's  account  of  the  count's  death. 
Her  hopes  from  Pierre. 

CHAPTER  XXIV.     P.  122 

Prince  Nikolai  Andreyevitch  Bolkonsky  at  home.  His  character  and 
notions.  The  prince  at  his  lathe.  His  lesson  to  his  daughter.  His  praise 
of  mathematics.  Julie  Karagina's  letter  to  the  Princess  Mariya.  Julie's 
description  of  Nikolai  Rostof.  The  Princess  Mariya's  reply.  Conflicting 
ideas  of  Pierre. 

CHAPTER   XXV.     P.  132 

Arrival  of  Prince  Andrei  and  his  wife.  Meeting  of  Liza  and  Mariya. 
Prince  Andrei's  annoyance.  Prince  Andrei  and  his  father.  The  old 
prince  dressing. 

CHAPTER  XXVI.     P.  138 

In  the  prince's  dining-room.  The  ancestral  tree.  Meeting  of  the  old 
prince  and  Liza.     Discussion  of  politics  at  table. 

CHAPTER   XXVII.     P.  144 

Prince  Andrei's  preparations  for  departure.  Serious  thoughts.  Fare- 
well interview  between  Mariya  and  Andrei.  Mariya  persuades  Andrei  to 
wear  the  blessed  medallion.  Mariya's  criticisms  on  her  father's  religious 
views.  Coquettish  Mile.  Bourienne.  Liza's  flighty  talk.  Andrei's  fare- 
well to  his  father.     The  prince's  memoirs.     Farewell  to  Liza, 


CONTENTS  X'*' 


PART   II  (1805) 

CHAPTER  I.    Page  155 

The  Russian  army  and  Kutuzof  near  Braunau.  Preparation  for  inspeca 
tion.  Condition  of  the  regiments.  The  regimental  commander.  A 
change  of  orders.  Dolokhof  cashiered.  The  blue  Capote.  Captain 
Timokhin  of  Company  Three. , 

CHAPTER  II.     P.  161 

Arrival  of  Kutuzof.  The  review.  Prince  Andrei  and  Nesvitsky. 
Zherkof.  The  hussar  mimic.  Prince  Andrei  reminds  Kutuzof  of  Dolo- 
khof. Timokhin's  account  of  Dolokhof.  Regimental  comments  on  Ku- 
tuzof. "  Singers  to  the  front !  "  Zherkhof  tries  to  make  friends  with 
Dolokhof. 

CHAPTER  in.     P.  170 

Kutuzof  and  the  member  of  the  Hofskriegsrath.  Kutuzof 's  excuset 
for  not  taking  an  active  part  in  offensive  operations.  Change  in  Prince 
Andrei.  Kutuzof's  report  of  him  to  his  father.  How  regarded  by  the 
staff.  Arrival  of  the  defeated  General  Mack.  Le  malheiireiix  Mack, 
Preparations  for  the  campaign.  Zherkhof  insults  General  Strauch.  Prince 
Andrei's  resentment. 

CHAPTER  IV.     P.  178 

Nikolai  Rostof  as  yunker.  Nikolai  and  his  horse.  His  conversatiou 
with  his  German  host.  Description  of  Denisof.  Lieutenant  Telyanin 
Disappearance  of  the  purse.     Nikolai  forces  Telyanin  to  refund. 


CHAPTER  V.     P.  188 

Nikolai  refuses  to  apologize  to  the  regimental  commander.      Discussiot 
of  the  matter.     Nikolai's  pride.     End  of  inaction. 

CHAPTER  VI.    P.  192 

■  Kutuzof  in  retreat.    The  army  crossing  the  Enns.    The  scene.     View 
from  the  hill.     Firing  from  the  battery. 


XVI  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VII.     P.  195 

The  Russians  crossing  the  bridge.  Nesvitsky  on  the  bridge.  Scraps  of 
soldier  talk.  The  German  household.  Denisof  on  the  bridge.  Military 
repartees. 

CHAPTER  Vni.     P.  201 

Appearance  of  the  French.  The  Cossack  patrol.  The  solemn  gap 
between  the  two  belligerents.  The  Unknown.  Under  fire.  Passage  of 
the  hussars.  Nikolai  Rostof.  Ordered  to  burn  the  bridge.  Misunder- 
standing. Grape.  The  beauty  of  the  scene.  Contrast  with  death  and 
the  destruction  of  battle.     Rostof 's  prayer.     Under  fire  for  the  first  time. 

CHAPTER  IX.     P.  211 

The  retreat  of  the  Russians.  November  9,  1805.  Condition  of  the 
army.  Prince  Andrei  wounded.  Sent  with  a  special  courier  to  the  Aus- 
trian court  at  Briinn.  Driving  through  the  night.  Weird  sensations. 
Prince  Andrei  at  the  palace.  Invited  to  meet  the  war  minister.  Cool 
reception.    Thoughts  suggested  by  officialdom. 

CHAPTER  X.     P.  217 

Prince  Andrei  entertained  by  the  witty  Bilibin.  His  character  and 
career.  Diplomatic  subtleties.  Occupation  of  Vienna.  Buonaparte  or 
Bonaparte?     Illusions. 

CHAPTER  XI.     P.  224 

Prince  Andrei  meets  the  fashionable  set  —  *'  /es  notres^  Prince  Ippolit 
Kuragin  and  the  others  at  Bilibin's.     Prince  Ippolit,  the  butt,  entangled. 

CHAPTER  XII.     P.  227 

Prince  Andre!  at  the  levee.  Received  by  the  Emperor  Franz.  Over- 
whelmed with  invitations.  Invested  v/ith  the  order  of  Maria  Theresa  of 
the  third  degree.  Hasty  departure  of  the  court.  Bilibin  relates  the  story 
of  the  capture  of  the  Thabor  Bridge. 

CHAPTER  XIII.     P.  233 

Prince  Andre!  returns  to  the  army.  The  confusion  of  the  Russian  army. 
The  doctor's  wife.      The  drunken  officer.      Prince  Andrei  finds  Nesvitsky. 


CONTENTS  xvij 

Kutuzof  with  Prince  Bagration  and  Weirother.  The  dispositions. 
Description  of  Bagration.  Kutuzof  gives  Bagration  his  blessing.  Descrip- 
tion of  Kutuzof.     Prince  Andrei  begs  to  join  Bagration. 

CHAPTER  XIV.     P.  240 

Kutuzof  decides  to  retreat  from  Krems  to  Znaim  and  Olmutz.  Bagra- 
tion sent  across  the  mountains.  "  The  impossible  possible."  A  trick  that 
failed.  The  armistice.  Bonaparte's  indignation  at  the  delay.  His  letter 
to  Murat.     Bagration's  four  thousand. 

CHAPTER  XV.     P.  245 

Prince  Andrei  reports  to  Bagration.  Cordially  received.  Reconnoiters 
the  position.  The  sutler's  tent.  Captain  Tushin  with  his  boots  off.  The 
soldiers  at  the  front.  Punishment  of  the  thief.  Gossip  with  the  French. 
Sidorof.     Dolokhof  spiokesman.     Sidorof 's  gibberish  French. 

CHAPTER  XVI.     P.  251 

The  scene  from  the  hill.  The  lay  of  the  land.  Prince  Andrei's  compre- 
hension of  the  position.  Discussion  of  death.  The  cannon-shot.  Cap- 
tain Tushin  again. 

CHAPTER  XVII.     P.  254 

The  beginning  of  the  action.  Influence  of  the  fact.  The  auditor. 
"  French  pancakes."  The  Cossack  killed.  Tushin's  battery.  Setting 
Schongraben  on.  fire.  Tushin's  covering  forces  withdrawn.  Tushin  for- 
gotten. Importance  of  the  general's  presence  in  spite  of  the  fortuitousness 
of  events. 

CHAPTER  XVIII.     P.  260 

Battle-scenes.  At  the  front.  Effect  of  the  battle  on  Bagration.  The 
enemy's  charge.  "  Left !  left !  left !  "  Charge  of  the  Sixth  Jagers,  The 
enemy  yield. 

CHAPTER  XIX.     P.  265 

The  Pavlograd  hussars  attacked  by  Lannes  and  defeated.  Ordered  to 
retreat.  Quarrel  between  the  two  officers.  The  challenge.  The  test. 
Rostof's  squadron  facing  the  enemy.  The  charge.  Nikolai's  sensations. 
Nikolai  falls.  The  hook-nosed  Frenchman.  Nikolai  runs.  Escapes.  A 
benumbed  arm. 


xviii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XX.    P.  272 

Demoralization  in  the  ranks.  Timokhin's  firmness,  Dolokhof's  gal- 
lantry.  Tushin  still  at  work.  Death  in  ihe  battery.  Tushin's  gallantry. 
His  imagination.  Matushka  Matveyevna.  Prince  Andrei  sent  to  recall 
Tushin.     Sights  on  the  battery. 

CHAPTER  XXI.    P.  279 

Nikolai  given  a  ride  on  the  gun-carriage  of  the  Matveyevna.  Bivouac. 
The  living  river.  The  night  scene.  After  the  battle.  Rostof 's  sensations. 
Scraps  of  talk.  Tushin  summoned  to  the  general.  Bagration  at  the  cot- 
tage. The  captured  standard.  The  regimental  commander's  story.  True 
because  he  beUeves  it  true.  Praise  for  the  blameworthy.  Blame  for  the 
praiseworthy.  Tushin  called  to  account.  Prince  Andrei  defends  Tushin. 
A  splendid  tribute.  Nikolai's  illusion.  The  conjunction  of  forces 
effected. 


PRINCIPAL   CHARACTERS  xxi 

Seniy6n  Chekmar,  Dani'lo  (Dani'la)  Terentyitch,  Eduard  Karluitch 
Dimmler,  Zakhar,  Luiza  Ivanovna  Schoss,  Tikhon,  Maksimka,  Marya 
Bogdanovna  the  midwife,  Feoktist  the  cook,  Praskovya  Savishna^the 
old  nurse,  Ivanushka  the  old  pilgrim,  Fedosyushka,  Father  Amfilokhi 
{^Am-fee-\Q-hi\  Mavrushka  the  maid,  Gerasim  the  servant,  Ilytishka 
the  gipsy,  Yakof  Alpatuitch,  Lavrdshka,  etc. 

The  Emperor  Alexander  Pavlovitch  (Romanof). 

The  Emperor  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 

Mikhail  Iliaronovitch  Kutuzof  [Tl/^^-ha-?/  Il-ya-xon-o-vttch  Koo-ioo-tof]. 

Pavel  Ivanovitch  Kutdzof. 

Feodor  Vasilyevitch  Rostopchin  [^Ras-tap-icht&xi]. 

Prince  Adam  Czartorui'sky  [C'ha7'-to-x\s-ky']. 

Count  Ostermann-Tolsto'i  \^Tol-?.i6-ee'\. 

General  Prschebiszewsky  IPresh-ebi-shew-sky}, 

Mikhail  Mikhailovitch  Speransky. 

Aleksei  Andreyevitch  Arakcheyef. 

General  Miloradovitch. 

Yuri  Vladimirovitch  Dolgordkof  or  Dolgordki. 

Count  Viazemsky. 

Prince  Aleksandr  Naruishkin  lNar-y?>\v-kee»\. 

Feodor  Petrovitch  Uvarof  \_Oo-wi-7-oJ"\. 

General  Benigsen  (or  Benningsen). 

Countess  Potocka  \_Po-i6i-ska'\. 

Count  Maikof. 

Prince  Soltuikof  \_SaI-iy-k6i'\.  ,     ~,  n 

Generals  Winzengerode,  Karl  Bogdanovitcb  Schubert,  Barclay  de  Tolly, 
Yermolof,  Count  Orlof-Dem'sof,  Poniat6wski  \^Pon-ya-\.6v-skee\ 
Novosiltsof,  Weirother,  Balashof,  Murat,  Davoust,  Pfuhl  (Pfiihl), 
Rumyantsof,  Stolui'pin,  Grand  Duke  Konstantin  Pavlovitch,  Potemkin 
•  IPat-yom-khi'],  Suvorof  \_Soo-\6x-of,  known  in  history  as  Suvarof, 
Suwarrow^],  etc. 

In  the  foregoing  list  of  names  an  attempt  is  made  to  represent  the 
pronunciation.  The  stress  comes  on  the  syllable  left  unitalicized.  The 
transliteration  and  pronunciation  of  Russian  names  offer  some  difficulty. 
The  accent  is  even  more  capricious  than  in  English.  Only  an  approxima- 
tion to  accuracy  is  possible.  An  unaccented  o  sounds  like  a  ;  an  accented 
e  sometimes  sounds  like  the  e  in  yelk,  that  is,  like  yo.  Thus,  Potemkm  is 
Pat-yom-keen,  Orel  like  Ar-yol.  Masculine  proper  names  are  made  femi- 
nine by  a  change  in  the  ending,  generally  by  the  addition  of  the  syllable  a  or 
aya,  but  though  the  word  may  be  lengthened  the  accent  remains  on  the. 
same  syllable.  Thus,  Mamontof 's  wife  is  Mamontova,  but  Shinshi'n's  wife 
is  Shinshina.  The  accent  on  the  town  Rostof  is  on  the  ultimate,  but  the 
family  name  is  Rostof,  Rostova.  The  patronymic  endings  evUch,  evna, 
(yitch,  itch,  vna)  are  used  with  the  Christian  name  of  the  father,  somewhat 
as  0\  Mac,  and  Ap  show  the  family  origin  of  Celtic  names.  Russian  has 
an  abundance  of  diminutives  and  augmentatives  used  in  familiar  discourse. 
These  are  for  the  most  part  noted  in  the  list  of  characters. 


WAR  AND   PEACE 


PART    FIRST 


CHAPTER   I 

"  T  T  TELL,  prince,  Genoa  and  Lucca  are  now  nothing 

VV  more  than  the  apanages  of  the  Bonaparte  fam- 
ily. I  warn  you  that  if  you  do  not  tell  rue  we  are  going  to 
have  war,  if  you  still  allow  yourself  to  condone  all  the 
infamies,  all  the  atrocities,  of  this  Antichrist,  —  on  my 
word  I  believe  he  is  Antichrist,  —  I  will  not  recognize 
you ;  that  is  the  end  of  our  friendship ;  you  shall  no 
longer  be  my  faithful  slave,  as  you  call  yourself.  There 
now,  cheer  up,  cheer  up,  I  see  I  frighten  you.  Come, 
sit  down  and  tell  me  all  about  it." 

Thus  on  a  July  evening  in  1805  the  well-known  Anna 
Pavlovna  Scherer,  maid  of  honor  and  confidential  friend 
of  the  Empress  Maria  Feodorovna,  greeted  the  influ- 
ential statesman,  Prince  Vasili,  who  was  the  first  to 
arrive  at  her  reception. 

Anna  Pavlovna  had  been  coughing  for  several  days; 
she  had  the  grippe,  as  she  called  it  — grippe  being  then 
a  new  word  used  only  by  a  few. 

Her  notes  of  invitation,  distributed  that  morning  by 
a  footman  in  red,  had  been  written  alike  to  all :  — 

"Count  (or  Prince),  if  you  have  nothing  better  to  do,  and 
if  the  prospect  of  an  evening  with  a  poor  invalid  is  not  too 
frightful,  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  see  you  to-night  at  my  house 
between  seven  and  ten. 

"Anna  Scherer." 

VOL.  I.  —■  I  I 


2  WAR   AND    PEACE 

'•  Oh  !  what  a  cruel  attack !  "  exclaimed  the  prince, 
as  he  came  forward  in  his  embroidered  court  uniform, 
stockings,  and  diamond-buckled  shoes,  and  with  an 
expression  of  serenity  on  his  fleshy  face  :  he  was  not 
in  the  least  disturbed  by  this  reception. 

He  spoke  that  elegant  French  in  which  Russians 
formerly  not  only  talked  but  also  thought,  and  his  voice 
was  low  and  patronizing,  as  becomes  a  distinguished 
man  who  has  spent  a  long  life  in  society  and  at  court. 

He  went  up  to  Anna  Pavlovna,  kissed  her  hand, 
bending  down  to  it  his  perfumed  and  polished  bald 
head,  and  then  he  seated  himself  comfortably  on  the 
divan. 

"First  tell  me  how  you  are  feeling;  calm  your 
friend's  anxiety,"  said  he,  not  altering  the  tone  of  his 
voice,  which,  in  spite  of  the  gallant  and  sympathetic 
nature  of  his  remark,  still  betrayed  indifference  and 
even  raillery. 

"  How  can  one  be  well  —  when  one's  moral  sensi- 
bilities are  so  tormented  ?  How  in  these  days  can  any 
one  with  feelings  remain  calm  ?  "  exclaimed  Anna  Pav- 
lovna.    "  You  will  spend  the  evening  with  me,  I  hope  ?  " 

"  But  the  English  ambassador's  reception  ?  To-day 
is  Wednesday.  I  must  show  myself  there,"  said  the 
prince.  "  My  daughter  is  coming  for  me,  to  take  me 
there." 

"  I  thought  that  reception  had  been  postponed.  I 
confess  all  these  feUs  and  fireworks  are  beginning  to 
grow  tiresome !  " 

"  If  they  had  known  that  you  had  wished  it,  they 
would  have  postponed  the  reception,"  said  the  prince, 
from  habit,  like  a  watch  wound  up,  saying  things  which 
he  did  not  expect  to  be  believed. 

'*  Don't  tease  me !  Well,  what  has  been  decided 
m  regard  to  Novosiltsof's  despatch  ?  You  know  every- 
\hing." 

"  How  can  I  tell  vou,"  said  the  prince,  in  a  cold  tone 
of  annoyance,  "what  has  been  decided.-*  It  has  been 
decided  that  Bonaparte  has  burnt  his  ships,  and  I  be- 
lieve that  we  are  ready  to  burn  ours." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  3 

Prince  Vasili  always  spoke  indolently,  like  an  actor 
rehearsing  an  old  part.  Anna  Pavlovna,  on  the  con- 
trary, in  spite  of  her  forty  years,  was  full  of  vivacity 
and  impulses. 

Her  character  of  an  enthusiast  had  given  her  a  pe- 
culiar position,  and  sometimes,  even  when  it  was  con- 
trary to  her  inclinations,  she  worked  herself  up  to 
enthusiasm,  so  as  not  to  disappoint  the  expectations 
of  her  acquaintances.  The  suppressed  smile  constantly 
playing  over  her  face,  although  incongruous  with  her 
faded  features,  expressed,  just  as  in  the  case  of  spoiled 
children,  the  ever  present  consciousness  of  her  ami- 
able weakness,  which  she  could  not  and  would  not 
correct,  and  which  she  did  not  think  it  necessary  to 
correct. 

In  the  midst  of  their  conversation  about  political 
matters  Anna  Pavlovna  grew  heated,  — 

''  Oh  !  don't  speak  to  me  about  Austria.  Perhaps  I 
do  not  know  anything  about  it,  but  Austria  has  never 
wished  for  war,  and  she  does  not  now.  She  is  betraying 
us.  Russia  alone  must  be  the  savior  of  Europe.  Our 
benefactor  realizes  his  lofty  mission,  and  will  be  faithful 
to  it.  That  is  one  thing  in  which  I  have  a  firm  belief. 
The  grandest  part  in  the  world  lies  before  our  kind  and 
splendid  sovereign,  and  he  is  so  benevolent  and  good 
that  God  will  not  abandon  him,  and  he  will  fulfil  his 
mission  of  crushing  the  hydra  of  revolution,  which  is 
now  more  monstrous  than  ever,  in  the  face  of  this  mur- 
derer and  scoundrel.     We  alone  must  redeem  the  blood 

of  the  just On  whom  can  we  rely,  I  ask  you.'*.... 

England  with  her  commercial  spirit  does  not  understand 
and  cannot  at  all  conceive  the  Emperor  Alexander's  lofti- 
ness of  soul.  She  has  refused  to  evacuate  Malta.  She  is 
anxious  to  find,  she  is  seeking  for,  some  secret  motive 
in  our  actions.  What  did  they  say  to  Novosiltsof  ? 
Nothing!  They  do  not  and  they  cannot  understand  the 
self-denial  of  our  emperor,  who  wishes  nothing  for  his 
own  gain,  but  everything  for  the  good  of  the  world.  And 
what  have  they  promised  ?  Nothing  !  Even  what  they 
have   promised  will   not   be    performed.      Prussia   has 


4  WAR   AND    PEACE 

already  declared  that  Bonaparte  is  invincible,  and  that 

all  Europe  is  powerless  before   him And  I  havie 

not  the  slightest  faith  in  Hardenberg  or  in  Haugwitz. 
This  famous  Prussian  neutrality  is  only  a  snare.  I 
believe  in  God  alone,  and  in  the  high  destiny  of  our 
beloved  emperor.     He  will  save  Europe  !  "  .... 

She  suddenly  paused,  with  a  smile  of  amusement  at 
her  own  impetuosity. 

"I  think,"  said  the  prince,  smiling,  "that  if  you  had 
been  sent  instead  of  our  dear  Wintzengerode,  you  would 
have  taken  the  king  of  Prussia's  consent  by  storm.  You 
are  so  eloquent [     Will  you  give  me  some  tea?" 

"  Directly.  A  propos^'  she  added,  becoming  calm  once 
more,  "this  evening  two  very  interesting  men  will  be 
here :  the  Vicomte  de  Montemart,  connected  with  the 
Montmorencys  through  the  Rohans,  one  of  the  best 
names  in  France.  He  is  one  of  the  decent  emigrants 
of  the  genuine  sort.  And  then  the  Abbe  Morio  ;  do 
you  know  that  profound  mind }  He  has  been  received 
by  the  sovereign.      Do  you  know  him  }  " 

"  Ah  !  I  shall  be  most  happy,"  said  the  prince.  "  But 
tell  me,"  he  went  on  to  say,  as  if  something  just  at  that 
moment  for  the  first  time  occurred  to  him,  whereas  in 
reality  the  matter  regarding  which  he  was  asking  this 
question  was  the  chief  object  of  his  visit,  "is  it  true  that 
the  empress  dowager  wishes  Baron  Funke  to  be  named 
as  first  secretary  at  Vienna  }  It  seems  to  me  that  this 
baron  is  a  wretched  creature." 

Prince  Vasili  was  anxious  for  his  son  to  get  the 
appointment  to  this  place,  which  a  party  was  trying  to 
secure  for  the  baron  through  the  influence  of  the  Em^ 
press  Maria  Feodorovna. 

Anna  Pavlovna  almost  closed  her  eyes,  to  signify  that 
neither  she  nor  any  one  else  could  tell  what  would  satisfy 
or  please  the  empress. 

"  Baron  Funke  was  recommended  to  the  empress 
dowager  by  her  sister,"  said  she  in  a  dry,  melancholy 
tone.  Whenever  Anna  Pavlovna  spoke  of  the  empress, 
her  face  suddenly  assumed  a  deep  and  genuine  expres- 
sion of  devotion  and  deference  tinged  with  melancholy, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  5 

and  this  was  characteristic  of  her  at  all  times  when  she 
was  reminded  of  her  august  patroness.  She  said  that 
her  majesty  had  been  pleased  to  show  Baron  Funke 
her  good-will,  and  again  her  face  became  melancholy. 

The  prince  said  nothing  and  looked  indifferent.  Anna 
Pavlovna,  with  feminine  quickness  and  a  courtly  dexterity 
characteristic  of  her,  was  desirous  of  giving  the  prince  a 
rap  because  he  had  dared  to  speak  in  dispraise  of  a  per- 
son recommended  to  the  empress,  and  at  the  same  time 
she  wished  to  console  him.  "  But  speaking  of  your 
family,"  she  added,  ''  do  you  know  that  your  daughter, 
since  she  came  out,  has  roused  the  enthusiasm  of  our 
best  society.  She  is  considered  to  be  as  lovely  as  the 
day." 

The  prince  bowed  in  token  of  his  respect  and  gratitude. 

"  I  often  think,"  pursued  Anna  Pavlovna,  after  a 
moment's  silence,  drawing  a  little  closer  to  the  prince 
and  giving  him  a  flattering  smile,  as  if  to  imply  that 
nothing  more  was  to  be  said  about  politics  and  society, 
but  that  now  they  might  have  a  confidential  chat :  "  I 
often  think  how  unfairly  good  things  of  life  are  dis- 
tributed. Why  should  fate  have  given  you  two  such 
splendid  children  (I  don't  count  Anatol,  your  youngest, 
I  don't  like  him,"  she  said  decisively,  in  way  of  paren- 
thesis, and  raising  her  brows),  two  such  lovely  chil- 
dren ?  And  really  you  do  not  prize  them  as  much  as 
others  do,  and  therefore  you  do  not  deserve  them." 

And  she  smiled  her  enthusiastic  smile. 

"  Q?ie  voulez-votis  ?  Lavater  would  have  said  that 
I  lack  the  bump  of  philoprogenitiveness,"  said  the 
prince. 

"  Now  stop  joking.  I  wanted  to  have  a  serious  talk 
with  you.  You  must  know,  I  am  out  of  patience  with 
your  youngest  son.  Between  you  and  me  (here  her 
face  assumed  its  melancholy  expression),  they  have 
been  talking  about  him  at  her  majesty's,  and  they  feel 
sorry  for  you." 

The  prince  made  no  reply,  but  she  paused  and  looked 
at  him  significantly  while  waiting  for  his  answer.  Prince 
Vasili  frowned. 


6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"What  do  you  wish  me  to  do !  "  he  exclaimed  at  last. 
"You  know  I  have  done  everything  for  their  education 
that  a  father  can  do,  and  both  have  turned  out  imbeciles. 
Ippolit  is  at  least  only  an  inoffensive  idiot,  but  Anatol 
is  a  nuisance.  There  is  that  difference  between  them," 
said  he,  with  a  smile  more  natural  and  animated  than 
usual,  and  at  the  same  time  very  distinctly  displaying 
an  unexpectedly  coarse  and  disagreeable  expression  in 
the  wrinkles  around  his  mouth. 

'*  And  why  is  it  that  such  men  as  you  have  children  ? 
If  you  were  not  a  father,  I  should  not  be  able  to  find 
fault  with  you  about  anything,"  said  Anna  Pavlovna, 
lifting  her  eyes  pensively. 

**  I  am  your  faithful  slave,  and  I  can  confess  it  to 
you  alone.  My  children  are  the  stumbling-blocks  of 
my  existence.  This  is  my  cross.  That  is  the  way  that 
I  explain  it  to  myself.     Q?ie  voiUez-vous  .^  "  — 

He  paused,  expressing  with  a  gesture  his  submission 
to  his  cruel  fate.     Anna  Pavlovna  was  lost  in  thought. 

"  Has  it  never  occurred  to  you  to  find  a  wife  for  your 
prodigal  son }  They  say  old  maids  have  a  mania  for 
match-making ;  I  am  not  as  yet  conscious  of  this  weak- 
ness, but  I  know  a  young  girl  who  is  very  unhappy 
with  her  father :  she  is  a  relative  of  ours,  Princess 
Bolkonskaya." 

Prince  Vasili  made  no  reply,  but  the  motion  of  his 
head  showed  that,  with  the  swiftness  of  calculation  and 
memory  characteristic  of  men  of  the  world,  he  was  tak- 
ing her  suggestion  into  consideration. 

"  Did  you  know  that  this  Anatol  costs  me  forty  thou- 
sand a  year }  "  said  he,  evidently  unable  to  restrain  the 
painful  current  of  his  thoughts.  He  hesitated  :  "  What 
will  it  be  five  years  hence,  if  it  goes  at  this  rate }  That 
is  the  advantage  of  being  a  father.  Is  she  rich,  this 
princess  of  yours  t  " 

"  Her  father  is  very  rich  and  stingy.  He  lives  in 
the  country.  You  know,  he  is  that  famous  Prince 
Bolkonsky,  who  retired  during  the  lifetime  of  the  late 
emperor.  He  was  nicknamed  'The  King  of  Prussia.* 
He  is  a  man  of  genius,  but  full  of  whims,  and  a  trial. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  7 

The  poor  little  girl  is  as  unhappy  as  she  can  be.  She 
has  a  brother  who  recently  married  Lise  Meinen.  He 
is  on  Kutuzof's  staff.     He  will  be  here  this  evening." 

**  Listen,  my  dear  Annette,"  said  the  prince,  suddenly 
taking  his  companion's  hand  and  bending  it  down  for 
some  reason.  "Arrange  this  business  for  me,  and  I 
will  be  your  faithfullest  slave  forever  and  ever.  She 
is  of  good  family  and  rich  —  that  is  all  I  require." 

And  with  that  easy  and  natural  grace  for  which  he 
was  distinguished,  he  raised  her  hand,  kissed  it,  and 
having  kissed  it,  still  retained  it  in  his,  while  he  settled 
back  in  his  arm-chair  and  looked  to  one  side. 

"Just  wait!"  said  Anna  Pavlovna,  after  a  moment 
of  consideration.  "I  will  speak  about  it  this  evening 
to  Lise  (young  Bolkonsky's  wife),  and  perhaps  it  can 
be  arranged.  I  shall  begin  my  old  maid's  apprentice- 
ship in  your  family." 


CHAPTER   n 

Anna  Pavlovna's  drawing-room  gradually  began  to 
be  filled  The  highest  aristocracy  of  Petersburg  came; 
people  most  widely  differing  in  age  and  in  character, 
but  alike  in  that  they  all  belonged  to  the  same  class  of 
society.  Prince  VasiU's  daughter,  the  beautiful  Ellen, 
came,  in  order  to  go  with  her  father  to  the  ambassador's 
reception.  She  was  in  ball  toilet  and  wore  the  imperial 
decoration.  There  came  also  the  little,  young  Princess 
Bolkonskaya,  known  as  the  most  fascinating  woman  in 
Petersburg.  She  had  been  married  during  the  winter 
before,  and  now,  owing  to  her  expectations,  had  ceased 
to  appear  at  large  entertainments,  but  still  went  to  small 
receptions.  Prince  Ippolit,  Prince  Vasili's  son,  came 
with  Montemart,  whom  he  was  introducing  to  society. 
The  Abbe  Morio  and  many  others  also  came. 

"  Have  you  seen  my  aunt  yet  ? "  or  "  Do  you  know 
my  aunt  ?  "  asked  Anna  Pavlovna  of  her  guests,  as  they 
came  in,  and  with  perfect  seriousness  she  would  lead 
them  up  to  a  little  old  lady  wearing  tremendous  bows, 


8  WAR   AND    PEACE 

who  had  sailed  out  from  the  next  room  the  moment 
the  guests  began  to  arrive,  and  she  presented  them  by 
name,  deliberately  looking  from  guest  to  aunt,  and  then 
going  back  to  her  place  again. 

All  the  guests  had  to  go  through  the  formality  of  an 
introduction  to  this  superfluous  and  uninteresting  aunt, 
whom  no  one  knew  or  cared  to  know.  Anna  Pavlovna, 
with  a  melancholy,  solemn  expression  of  sympathetic 
approval,  silently  listened  to  their  exchange  of  for- 
malities. 

^^ Ma  tante''  spoke  to  all  newcomers  in  precisely  the 
same  terms  about  their  health,  her  own  health,  and  the 
health  of  her  majesty,  'Svhich  was  better  to-day,  thank 
God."  All  those  who  fell  into  her  clutches,  though 
from  politeness  they  showed  no  undue  haste,  made  their 
escape  with  the  consciousness  of  relief  at  having  accom^ 
plished  a  disagreeable  duty,  and  took  pains  not  to  stay 
near  the  old  lady  or  to  come  into  her  vicinity  again 
during  the  evening. 

The  young  Princess  Bolkonskaya  came,  bringing 
some  work  in  a  gold-embroidered  velvet  bag.  Her 
pretty  little  upper  lip,  just  shaded  by  an  almost  imper- 
ceptible down,  was  rather  short,  but  all  the  more  fasci- 
nating when  it  displayed  her  teeth,  and  more  fascinating 
still  when  she  drew  it  down  a  little  and  closed  it  against 
the  under  lip.  As  is  always  the  case  wdth  perfectly 
charming  women,  her  defect  of  a  short  lip  and  a  half- 
open  mouth  seemed  like  a  distinction,  her  peculiar 
beauty. 

It  was  a  delight  for  all  to  look  at  this  beautiful  young 
woman  so  full  of  health  and  life,  and  so  gracious  with 
the  promise  of  coming  motherhood.  Old  men  and 
surly  young  men,  soured  before  their  time,  as  they 
looked  at  her  seemed  to  become  like  her,  after  being  in 
her  presence  and  talking  with  her  for  a  little  time. 
Whoever  spoke  with  her  and  saw  her  bright  smile,  and 
her  shining  white  teeth  displayed  at  every  word,  was 
sure  to  go  away  with  the  impression  that  he  had  been 
unusually  agreeable  that  day.  And  every  one  felt  the 
same. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  9 

The  young  princess,  with  her  workbag  in  her  hand, 
waddling  along  with  short  quick  steps,  passed  around 
the  table,  and  joyously  disposing  her  dress,  sat  down  on 
the  divan  near  the  silver  samovar,  as  if  all  that  she  did 
was  a  delight  for  herself  and  all  around  her. 

"I  have  brought  my  work,"  she  said,  opening  her 
reticule,  and  addressing  the  whole  company.  ''  Now 
see  here,  Annette,  don't  play  a  naughty  trick  on  me," 
she  went  on  to  say,  turning  to  the  hostess.  "  You 
wrote  me  that  it  was  to  be  a  little  informal  soiree ;  see 
how  unsuitably  I  am  dressed !  " 

And  she  spread  out  her  arms  so  as  to  display  her 
elegant  gray  gown  trimmed  with  lace  and  belted  high 
with  a  wide  ribbon. 

*'  Do  not  be  disturbed,  Lise,"  replied  Anna  Pavlovna, 
"you  will  always  be  the  most  beautiful  of  all." 

"You  know  my  husband  is  deserting  me,"  continued 
the  young  princess,  still  in  French,  and  addressing  a 
general,  "He  is  going  to  meet  his  death,  —  Tell  me, 
why  this  wretched  war  .'^ "  she  added,  this  time  speaking 
to  Prince  Vasi'li;  and  without  waiting  for  his  rejoinder, 
she  had  some  remark  to  make  to  Prince  Vasili's  daugh- 
ter, the  handsome  Ellen. 

"What  a  charming  creature  that  little  princess  is  !  " 
whispered  Prince  Vasili  to  Anna  Pavlovna. 

Shortly  after  the  young  princess's  arrival,  a  huge, 
stout  young  man  came  in.  His  head  was  close  cropped, 
he  had  on  eyeglasses,  and  wore  stylish  light  trousers,  an 
immense  frill,  and  a  cinnamon-colored  coat.  This  stout 
young  man  was  the  illegitimate  son  of  Count  Bezukhoi, 
a  famous  grandee  of  Catherine's  time,  and  now  lying  at 
the  point  of  death  in  Moscow.  He  had  not  as  yet 
entered  any  branch  of  the  service,  having  just  returned 
from  abroad,  where  he  had  been  educated,  and  this  was 
his  first  appearance  in  society. 

Anna  Pavlovna  welcomed  him  with  a  nod  reserved  for 
men  of  the  very  least  importance  in  the  hierarchy  of  her 
salon.  But  notwithstanding  this  greeting,  almost  con- 
temptuous in  its  way,  Anna  Pavlovna's  face,  as  Pierre 
came  toward  her,  expressed  anxiety  and  dismay  such  as 


lo  WAR   AND    PEACE 

one  experiences  at  the  sight  of  anything  too  huge  and 
out  of  place. 

Pierre  was  indeed  rather  taller  than  any  one  else  in 
the  room,  but  the  princess's  dismay  may  have  been 
caused  only  by  the  young  man's  intelligent,  and  at  the 
same  time  diffident,  glance,  so  honest  and  keen  that  it 
distinguished  him  from  every  one  else  in  the  room. 

"  It  is  very  kind  of  you,  Monsieur  Pierre,  to  come  and 
see  a  poor  invalid,"  said  Anna  Pavlovna,  looking  up  in 
alarm  from  her  aunt,  to  whom  she  was  conducting  him. 

Pierre  blurted  out  some  incoherent  reply,  and  con- 
tinued to  let  his  eyes  wander  around  the  assembly.  He 
smiled  with  pleasure  as  he  bowed  to  the  little  princess 
as  if  she  were  an  intimate  friend,  and  went  on  toward 
the  aunt. 

Anna  Pavlovna' s  alarm  was  justified,  for  Pierre,  with- 
out waiting  for  the  old  lady  to  finish  her  discourse  about 
her  majesty's  health,  left  her  abruptly.  Anna  Pavlovna 
in  dismay  detained  him  with  the  words,  — 

'*  Don't  you  know  the  Abbe  Morio  .''"  she  asked,  "  he 
is  a  very  interesting  man." 

"  Yes,  I  have  heard  of  his  plan  for  a  perpetual  peace, 
and  it  is  very  interesting,  but  hardly  feasible." 

"  Do  you  think  so  ? "  said  Anna  Pavlovna,  for  the 
sake  of  saying  something,  and  once  more  returning  to 
her  duties  as  hostess ;  but  Pierre  was  now  guilty  of  an 
incivility  of  an  opposite  nature.  Before,  he  had  left  a 
lady  without  allowing  her  to  finish  speaking ;  now  he 
insisted  on  detaining  his  companion  to  hear  what  he 
had  to  say,  though  she  wished  to  leave  him. 

Bending  his  head  down,  and  standing  with  his  long 
legs  spread  apart,  he  began  to  show  Anna  Pavlovna 
why  he  conceived  that  the  abbe's  plan  was  chimerical. 

"We  will  talk  about  that  by  and  by,"  said  Anna 
Pavlovna,  with  a  smile. 

And  having  turned  away  from  this  young  man  who 
had  such  bad  manners,  she  once  more  devoted  herself 
to  her  duties  as  hostess,  and  continued  to  listen  and 
look  on,  ready  to  lend  her  aid  wherever  conversation 
was  beginning  to  flag.      Just  as  the  proprietor   of   a 


WAR   AND    PEACE  ii 

cotton  mill,  who  has  stationed  his  workmen  at  their 
places,  walks  up  and  down  on  his  tour  of  inspection, 
and  when  he  notices  any  spindle  that  has  stopped,  or 
that  makes  an  unusually  loud  or  creaking  noise,  hastens 
to  it,  and  checks  it  or  sets  it  going  in  its  proper  rote, 
even  so  Anna  Pavlovna,  as  she  walked  up  and  down 
her  drawing-room,  came  to  some  group  that  was  silent, 
or  that  was  talking  too  excitedly,  and  by  a  single  word 
or  a  slight  transposition,  set  the  talking  machine  in 
regular  decorous  running  order  again. 

But  while  she  was  occupied  with  these  labors,  it  could 
be  seen  that  she  was  in  especial  dread  of  Pierre.  She 
watched  him  anxiously  while  he  went  to  listen  to  what 
was  said  in  the  circle  around  Montemart,  and  then 
joined  another  group,  where  the  abbe  was  discoursing. 

Pierre  had  been  educated  abroad,  and  this  reception 
at  Anna  Pavlovna's  was  his  first  introduction  to  society 
in  Russia.  He  knew  that  all  the  intellect  of  Petersburg 
was  gathered  here,  and  like  a  child  in  a  toy-show,  he 
kept  his  eyes  open.  He  was  all  the  time  afraid  of 
missing  some  clever  conversation  that  might  interest 
him.  As  he  saw  the  assured  and  refined  expressions  on 
the  faces  of  those  gathered  here,  he  was  ever  on  the 
lookout  for  something  especially  intellectual. 

He  had  finally  come  to  where  Morio  was.  The  con- 
versation seemed  to  him  interesting,  and  he  stood  there 
waiting  a  chance  to  air  his  opinions,  as  young  men  are 
fond  of  doing. 


CHAPTER   HI 

Anna  Pavlovna's  reception  was  in  full  swing.  The 
spindles  on  all  sides  were  buzzing  smoothly  and  without 
halt.  Not  counting  Ma  Tajite,  near  whom  sat  only  one 
elderly  lady  with  a  thin  tear-worn  face,  a  poor  soul 
rather  out  of  place  in  this  brilliant  society,  the  guests 
were  divided  into  three  circles.  The  Abbe  Morio  formed 
the  center  of  one,  for  the  most  part  composed  of  men;  in 
the  second,  mainly  young  folks,  were  that  beauty,  the 


12  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Princess  Ellen,  Prince  Vasili's  daughter,  and  the  pretty 
little  Princess  Bolkonskaya,  fair  and  rosy,  but  too  stout 
for  her  age. 

In  the  third  were  Montemart  and  Anna  Pavlovna. 

The  viscount  was  an  attractive-looking  young  man, 
with  delicate  features  and  refined  manners.  He  evi- 
dently regarded  himself  as  a  celebrity,  but  through  his 
good  breeding  modestly  allowed  the  company  with 
which  he  mingled  to  profit  by  his  presence.  Anna 
Pavlovna  was  evidently  serving  him  up  as  a  treat  for 
her  guests,  just  as  a  good  maitre  d'Jwtel  offers  as  a 
supernaturally  dehcious  dish  some  piece  of  meat  which 
no  one  would  feel  like  eating  were  it  seen  in  the  un- 
savory kitchen ;  so  this  evening  Anna  Pavlovna  served 
up  to  her  guests  first  the  viscount,  then  the  abbe,  as 
some  sort  of  supernatural  delicacy. 

^  In  Montemart's  circle  they  had  mimediately  begun  to 
discuss  the  murder  of  the  Due  d'Enghien.  The  viscount 
maintained  that  the  duke  had  fallen  a  victim  to  his  own 
magnanimity,  and  that  there  had  been  personal  reasons 
for  Bonaparte's  ill-will. 

'*  Ah  !  there  now,  tell  us  about  it,  viscount,"  said  Anna 
Pavlovna,  eagerly,  with  a  consciousness  that  this  phrase 
—  ''tell  us  about  it,  viscount,''  sounded  a  la  Louis 
XV. 

The  viscount  bowed  in  token  of  submission,  and 
smiled  urbanely.  Anna  Pavlovna  made  her  circle  close 
in  around  the  viscount,  and  invited  all  to  hear  his 
account, 

'*  The  viscount  knew  the  duke  personally,"  whispered 
Anna  Pavlovna  to  one  of  her  guests.  ''  The  viscount  is 
a  wonderfully  clever  story-teller,"  she  said  to  another; 
''  How  easy  it  is  to  tell  a  man  used  to  good  society," 
she  exclaimed  to  a  third ;  and  the  viscount  was  offered 
to  the  company  in  a  halo  most  exquisite  and  flattering 
to  himself,  Hke  roast  beef  garnished  with  parsley  on  a 
hot  platter. 

The  viscount  was  anxious  to  begin  his  narration,  and 
smiled  faintly. 

"  Come  over  here,  Mre  Helme;'  said  Anna  Pavlovna, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  13 

to  the  lovely  young  princess,  who  was  seated  at  some 
little  distance,  the  centre  of  the  second  group. 

The  Princess  Ellen  smiled;  she  stood  up  with  that 
unchanging  smile  with  which  she  first  came  mto  the 
^oom  —  the  smile  of  a  perfectly  beautiful  woman.  With 
the  rustle  of  her  white  ball  dress,  ornamented  with 
smilax  and  moss,  with  shoulders  gleaming  white,  with 
glossy  hair  and  flashing  gems,  she  made  her  way  through 
che  ranks  of  men  who  stood  aside  to  let  her  pass,  and 
not  looking  at  any  one  in  particular,  but  smiling  on  all, 
and  as  it  were,  amiably  granting  each  one  the  privilege 
of  admiring  the  beauty  of  her  form,  of  her  plump  shoul- 
ders, of  her  beautiful  bosom  and  back,  exposed  by  the 
low  cut  of  dresses  then  in  vogue,  seeming  to  personify 
the  radiance  of  festivity,  she  crossed  straight  over  to 
Anna  Pavlovna. 

Ellen  was  so  lovely  that  not  only  there  was  not  a 
shade  of  coquetry  to  be  perceived  in  her,  but  on  the 
contrary,  she  was,  as  it  were,  conscience-stricken  at  her 
indubitable  and  all-conquering  maidenly  beauty.  She 
seemed  to  have  the  will  but  not  the  power  to  dimmish 
the  effect  of  her  loveliness. 

,  ''What  a  beautiful  girl!"  was  remarked  by  all  who 

saw  her.  . 

The  viscount,  as  if  overwhelmed  by  something  extraor- 
dinary, shrugged  his  shoulders  and  dropped  his  eyes  as 
she  took  her  seat  in  front  of  him  and  turned  upon  him 
the  radiance  of  that  perpetual  smile. 

''  Madame,  I  fear  that  my  ability  is  not  on  a  par  with 
such  an  audience,"  said  he,  inclining  his  head  with  a 

smile.  , 

The  young  princess  rested  her  bare  round  arm  on  the 
table,  and  did  not  think  she  needed  to  say  anythhig  m 
reply.  She  smiled  and  waited.  All  the  time  that  he 
was'telling  his  story  she  sat  upright,  glancing  occasion- 
ally now  at  her  beautiful  plump  arm,  which  by  its  press- 
ure on  the  table  altered  its  shape,  now  at  her  still  more 
beautiful  bosom,  on  which  she  adjusted  her  diamond 
necklace ;  once  or  twice  she  smoothed  out  the  folds  of 
her  dress ;  and  when  the  story  was  particularly  impress- 


14  WriR   AND    PEACE 

ive,  she  would  look  at  Anna  Pavlovna  and  for  an  instant 
assume  the  very  same  expression  of  face  as  her  hostess, 
and  then  again  resume  her  calm,  radiant  smile. 

The  little  Princess  Bolkonskaya  had  also  left  the  tea- 
table  and  followed  Ellen. 

"  Wait  a  moment,  I  am  going  to  bring  my  work !  " 
she  had  exclaimed.  *'Why  are  you  in  a  brown  study.? " 
she  added,  addressing  Prince  Ippolit — "bring  me  my 
workbag !  " 

The  princess,  smiling,  and  having  a  word  for  every 
one,  had  quickly  effected  her  transmigration,  and  as  she 
look  her  seat,  merrily  arranged  herself. 

*'  Now  I  am  comfortable,"  she  had  exclaimed,  and 
begging  the  viscount  to  begin,  had  devoted  herself  to 
her  work  again.  Prince  Ippolit  had  brought  her  the 
bag  and,  placing  his  chair  near  her,  sat  down. 

The  chmnjiijig  Hippolyte  struck  one  by  his  extraor- 
dinary likeness  to  his  sister,  the  beautiful  Ellen,  and 
still  more  by  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  this  likeness  he 
was  astonishingly  ugly.  His  features  were  the  same  as 
his  sister's,  but  in  her  case  all  was  illumined  by  her 
radiantly  joyous,  self-contented,  unfailing  smile  of  life 
and  youth,  and  the  remarkable  classic  beauty  of  her 
form.  In  the  case  of  the  brother,  on  the  contrary,  the 
same  face  was  befogged  with  an  idiotic  look,  and  inva- 
riably gave  the  impression  of  a  self-conceited  and  pee- 
vish disposition,  and  his  body  was  lean  and  feeble. 
Eyes,  nose,  mouth,  all  were  fixed,  as  it  were,  in  a  vague 
and  querulous  grimace,  while  his  arms  and  legs  always 
assumed  some  unnatural  attitude. 

"  It  is  not  a  ghost  story,  is  it } "  he  had  asked,  as  he 
sat  down  near  the  princess  and  hastily  put  on  his  eye- 
glass, as  if  without  this  instrument  it  were  impossible 
for  him  to  say  a  word. 

''Why  no,  my  dear,"  replied  the  astonished  narrator, 
shrugging  his  shoulders. 

"  Because  I  detest  ghost  stories,"  he  added,  and  it 
was  plain  from  his  tone  that  only  after  he  had  spoken 
these  words  he  realized  what  they  meant. 

The  self-assurance  with  which  he  spoke  made  it  diffi- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  15 

cult  for  any  one  to  tell  whether  his  remark  was  very 
witty  or  very  stupid.  He  wore  a  dark  green  coat, 
pantaloons  of  a  shade  which  he  called  misse  de  nymphe 
effi'ayee,  and  stockings  and  pumps. 

The  viscount  gave  a  very  clever  rendering  of  an  anec- 
dote at  that  time  going  the  rounds,  to  the  effect  that 
the  Due  d'Enghien  had  gone  secretly  to  Paris  to  see 
Mile.  George,  and  there  met  Bonaparte,  who  also  en- 
joyed the  favors  of  the  famous  actress;  and  that  Napo- 
leon on  meeting  the  duke  there  happened  to  fall  into 
one  of  the  epileptic  fits  to  which  he  was  subject,  and 
thus  came  into  the  duke's  power,  but  the  duke  refrained 
from  taking  advantage  of  it,  while  Bonaparte  revenged 
himself  for  such  magnanimity  by  compassing  the  duke's 
death. 

The  story  was  very  nice  and  interesting,  especially  at 
the  place  where  the  rivals  suddenly  recognize  each  other, 
and  the  ladies,  it  appeared,  were  moved. 

"  Charming  !  "  exclaimed  Anna  Pavlovna,  looking  in- 
terrogatively at  the  little  princess. 

"Charming,"  whispered  the  little  princess,  looking 
for  her  needle  in  her  work,  as  if  to  signify  that  the  in- 
terest and  fascination  of  the  story  had  prevented  her 
from  going  on  with  her  sewing. 

The  viscount  was  flattered  by  this  mute  tribute  of 
praise,  and  with  a  gratified  smile  was  about  to  continue ; 
but  at  this  instant  Anna  Pavlovna,  who  had  kept  her  eye 
constantly  on  the  young  man  who  seemed  to  her  so  dan- 
gerous, noticed  that  he  and  the  abbe  were  talking  alto- 
gether too  loud  and  energetically,  and  she  hastened  to 
carry  aid  to  the  imperilled  place. 

In  reality  Pierre  had  succeeded  in  leading  the  abbe 
into  a  conversation  on  political  equipoise  ;  and  the  abbe, 
evidently  interested  by  the  young  man's  frank  impetu- 
osity, was  giving  him  the  full  benefit  of  his  pet  idea. 
Both  were  talking  and  listening  with  too  much  natural 
ardor,  and  this  was  displeasing  to  Anna  Pavlovna. 

'*  How  can  it  be  done }  —  the  balance  of  Europe  and 
the  right  of  nations,"  the  abbe  was  saying.  ''  It  is  pos- 
sible for  one  powerful  empire  like  Russia,  having  the 


1 6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

repute  of  being  barbarous,  to  take  her  stand  disinter* 
estedly  at  the  head  of  an  alHance  which  should  have 
for  its  aim  the  balance  of  Europe  —  and  she  would  save 
the  world  !  " 

"  How  would  you  bring  about  such  a  balance  of 
power?"  Pierre  was  beginning  to  ask;  but  just  at  this 
instant  Anna  Pavlovna  joined  them,  and,  giving  Pierre 
a  stern  glance,  asked  the  Italian  how  he  bore  the  cli- 
mate of  Petersburg. 

The  Italian's  face  instantly  changed  and  took  on  an 
offensively,  affectedly  soft  expression,  which  was  evi- 
dently habitual  with  him  when  he  engaged  in  conversa- 
tion with  women. 

"  I  am  so  enchanted  by  the  charms  of  the  wit  and 
culture,  especially  among  the  women  of  the  society  into 
which  I  have  the  honor  of  being  received,  that  I  have 
not  as  yet  had  time  to  think  of  the  climate,"  said  he. 

Anna  Pavlovna,  not  allowing  Pierre  and  the  abbe  to 
escape  from  her,  brought  them  into  the  general  circle, 
so  that  she  might  keep  them  under  her  observation. 

At  this  moment,  a  new  personage  appeared  in  the 
drawing-room.  This  new  personage  was  the  young 
Prince  Andrei  Bolkonsky,  the  husband  of  the  little 
princess.  Prince  Bolkonsky  was  a  very  handsome 
young  man  of  medium  height,  with  strongly  marked 
and  stern  features.  Everything  about  him,  from  the 
dull  and  weary  expression  of  his  eyes  to  the  measured 
deliberation  of  his  step,  presented  a  striking  contrast 
with  his  little  lively  wife.  He  was  not  only  acquainted, 
it  seemed,  with  every  one  in  the  room,  but  found  them 
so  tedious  that  even  to  look  at  them  and  hear  their 
voices  was  a  great  bore  to  him.  Of  all  the  faces  there 
which  he  found  so  tiresome,  the  face  of  his  lovely  little 
wife  was  apparently  the  one  that  bored  him  the  most. 
With  a  grimace  which  disfigured  his  handsome  face, 
he  turned  away  from  her.  He  kissed  Anna  Pavlovna's 
hand,  and  with  half-closed  eyes  looked  round  at  the 
assembly. 

"  So  you  are  getting  ready  for  war,  prince  ? "  asked 
Anna  Pavlovna. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  17 

"General  Kutuzof  has  been  kind  enough  to  desire 
me  as  his  aide-de-camp." 

He  spoke  in  French  and  like  a  Frenchman  accented 
the  last  syllable  of  Kutuzof's  name. 

"  And  Liza,  your  wife  ?" 

*'  She  will  go  into  the  country." 

*'  Isn't  it  a  sin  for  you  to  deprive  us  of  your  charming 
wife .? " 

''Andre,"  exclaimed  the  little  princess,  addressing 
her  husband  in  the  same  coquettish  tone  that  she  em- 
ployed toward  strangers,  "  such  a  fascinating  story  the 
viscount  has  been  telling  us  about  Mile.  George  and 
Bonaparte ! " 

Prince  Andreif  frowned  and  turned  away.  Pierre, 
who  from  the  moment  when  Prince  Andrei  entered  the 
room  had  not  taken  his  merry  kindly  eyes  from  him, 
now  came  up  and  took  him  by  the  arm.  Prince  Andrei, 
without  looking  round,  again  contracted  his  face  into 
a  grimace  expressing  his  annoyance  that  any  one  should 
touch  his  arm,  but  when  he  saw  Pierre's  smiling  face, 
he  smiled  with  an  unexpectedly  kind  and  pleasant 
smile. 

,  *'  What  is  this  !  —  you  also  in  gay  society  .?  "  said  he 
to  Pierre. 

"  I  knew  that  you  would  be  here,"  replied  Pierre. 
''  I  will  go  home  to  supper  with  you,"  he  added  in  a 
whisper,  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  viscount,  who  was 
proceeding  with  his  story  ;  "  may  I }  " 

''  No,  it's  impossible  !  "  said  Prince  Andrei,  laughing, 
and  by  a  pressure  of  the  hand  giving  Pierre  to  under- 
stand that  he  had  no  need  of  asking  such  a  question. 

He  had  something  more  on  his  tongue's  end,  but  at 
this  moment,  Prince  Vasi'li  and  his  daughter  arose  and 
the  two  young  men  stood  aside  to  give  them  room  to 
pass. 

"You  will  excuse  me,  my  dear  viscount,"  said  Prince 
Vasili  to  the  Frenchman,  courteously  pulling  him  down 
by  the  sleeve  to  make  him  keep  his  seat ;  "  this  un- 
fortunate reception  at  the  embassy  deprives  me  of  a 
pleasure,  and  compels  us  to  interrupt  you  —  I  am  very 
VOL.  I. — a 


i8  WAR   AND    PEACE 

sorry  to  leave  your  delightful  reception,"  said  he  to 
Anna  Pavlovna. 

His  daughter,  the  Princess  Ellen,  gracefully  holding 
the  folds  of  her  dress,  made  her  way  among  the  chairs, 
and  the  smile  on  her  lovely  face  was  more  radiant  than 
ever.  Pierre  looked  with  almost  startled,  enthusiastic 
eyes  at  the  beauty  as  she  passed  by  him. 

"Very  handsome,"  said  Prince  Andre'i. 

"Very,"  said  Pierre. 

As  he  went  by.  Prince  Vasili  seized  Pierre  by  the 
hand  and  turned  to  Anna  Pavlovna. 

"  Train  this  bear  for  me,"  said  he.  "  Here  he  has 
been  living  a  month  at  my  house,  and  this  is  the  first 
time  that  I  have  seen  him  in  society.  Nothing  is  so 
advantageous  for  a  young  man  as  the  society  of  clever 
women." 


CHAPTER   IV 

Anna  Pavlovna  smiled  and  promised  to  look  out  for 
Pierre,  who  was,  as  she  knew,  on  his  father's  side  re- 
lated to  Prince  Vasili. 

The  elderly  lady  who  had  been  sitting  near  Ma  Ta7ite 
jumped  up  hastily  and  followed  Prince  Vasili  into  the 
entry.  Her  face  lost  all- its  former  pretence  of  interest. 
Her  kind,  tear-worn  face  expressed  only  anxiety  and 
alarm. 

"  What  can  you  tell  me,  prince,  about  my  Boris," 
she  said,  as  she  followed  him  (she  pronounced  the  name 
Boris  with  the  accent  on  the  first  syllable) ;  "  I  cannot 
stay  any  longer  in  Petersburg.  Tell  me  what  tidings 
I  can  take  to  my  poor  boy." 

Although  Prince  Vasili's  manner  in  listening  to  the 
old  lady  was  reluctant  and  almost  uncivil,  and  even 
showed  impatience,  still  she  gave  him  a  flattering  and 
affectionate  smile  and  took  his  arm  to  keep  him  from 
going. 

"  What  would  it  cost  you  to  say  a  word  to  the  em- 
peror and  then  he  would  be  at  once  admitted  to  the 
Guards! "  she  added. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  19 

"  Be  assured  that  I  will  do  all  I  can,  princess,"  re- 
plied Prince  Vasili ;  *'  but  it  is  hard  for  me  to  ask  his 
majesty ;  I  should  advise  you  to  appeal  to  Rumyantsof 
through  Prince  Galitsuin.     That  would  be  wiser." 

The  elderly  lady  was  the  Princess  Drubetskaya,  and 
belonged  to  one  of  the  best  families  in  Russia,  but  she 
was  poor,  had  long  been  out  of  society,  and  had  lost  her 
former  connections.  She  had  now  come  to  town  in 
order  to  secure  the  admittance  of  her  only  son  into  the 
Imperial  Guards.  Merely  for  the  sake  of  meeting 
Prince  Vasili,  she  had  accepted  Anna  Pavlovna's  invi- 
tation and  come  to  the  reception ;  merely  for  this  she 
had  listened  to  the  viscount's  story.  She  was  dismayed 
at  Prince  Vasili's  words ;  her  once  handsome  face  ex- 
pressed vexation,  but  this  lasted  only  an  instant.  She 
smiled  once  more  and  clasped 'Prince  Vasili's  arm  more 
firmly. 

"  Listen,  prince,"  said  she,  *'  I  have  never  asked  any- 
thing of  you,  and  I  never  shall  ask  anything  of  you 
again  and  I  have  never  reminded  you  of  the  friendship 
that  my  father  had  for  you.  But  now  I  beg  of  you, 
in  God's  name,  do  this  for  my  son  and  I  will  look  upon 
you  as  our  benefactor,"  she  added  hastily.  *'  No,  don't 
be  angry,  but  promise  me  this.  I  have  asked  Galitsuin, 
he  refused.  Be  kind  as  you  used  to  be !  "  she  said, 
trying  to  smile,  though  the  tears  were  in  her  eyes. 

'*  Papa,  we  shall  be  late,"  said  the  Princess  Ellen, 
turning  her  lovely  head  on  her  classic  shoulders  as  she 
stood  waiting  at  the  door. 

Now  influence  in  society  is  a  capital  which  has  to  be 
economized  lest  it  be  exhausted.  Prince  Vasili  under- 
stood this,  and  having  once  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
if  he  asked  favors  for  everybody  that  applied  to  him, 
it  would  soon  be  idle  to  ask  anything  for  himself,  he 
rarely  exerted  his  influence.  The  Princess  Drubet- 
skaya's  last  appeal,  however,  caused  him  to  feel  some- 
thing like  a  pang  of  conscience.  She  reminded  him 
of  the  fact  that  he  owed  to  her  father  his  first  advance- 
ment in  his  career.  Moreover  he  saw  by  her  manner 
that  she  was  one  of  those  women,  notably  mothers,  who 


20  WAR   AND    PEACE 

having  once  got  a  notion  into  their  heads  do  not  desist 
until  their  desires  are  gratified,  and  in  case  they  fail 
are  ready  every  day,  every  moment,  with  fresh  urgen- 
cies, and  even  scenes.  This  last  consideratiori  turned 
the  scale  with  him. 

**  Chh'e  Anna  Mikhailovna,"  said  he,  with  his  usual 
familiarity  and  with  ill  humor  in  his  voice ;  "  it  is  al- 
most impossible  for  me  to  do  what  you  wish ;  but  in 
order  to  show  you  how  fond  I  am  of  you,  and  how  much 
I  honor  your  father's  memory,  I  will  do  the  impossible ; 
your  son  shall  be  admitted  to  the  Guards,  here  is  my 
hand  on  it.     Are  you  satisfied  }  " 

"My  dear,  you  are  our  benefactor.  I  expected 
nothing  less  from  you  —  I  knew  how  kind  you  were."  — 
He  started  to  go.  —  "  Wait,  two  words  more  —  when  once 
he  is  admitted,"  —  she  hesitated.  "You  and  Mikhail 
Ilarionovitch  Kutuzof  are  good  friends,  do  recommend 
Boris  to  him  as  aide-de-camp.  Then  I  should  be  con- 
tent, and  then  —  " 

Prince  Vasili  smiled. 

"That  I  will  not  promise.  You  have  no  idea  how 
Kutuzof  has  been  besieged  since  he  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief. He  himself  told  me  that  all  the  ladies 
of  Moscow  had  offered  him  all  their  sons  as  adjutants." 

"  No,  promise  me ;  I  will  not  let  you  go,  my  dear 
friend,  my  benefactor,  —  " 

"  Papa,"  again  insisted  the  beautiful  Ellen,  in  the 
same  tone,  "we  shall  be  late." 

"  Well,  ail  revoir,  good-by.     Do  you  see  "i " 

"  Then  to-morrow  you  will  speak  to  the  Emperor } " 

"Without  fail,  but  I  cannot  promise  about  Kutuzof." 

"  No,  but  promise,  promise,  Basile,"  insisted  Anna 
Mikhailovna,  with  a  coquettish  smile,  which  perhaps  in 
days  long  gone  by  might  have  been  becoming  to  her, 
but  now  ill  suited  her  haggard  face.  She  evidently  for- 
got her  age,  and  through  habit  put  her  confidence  in 
her  former  feminine  resources.  But  as  soon  as  he  was 
gone,  her  face  again  assumed  the  same  expression  as 
before,  of  pretended  cool  complacency.  She  returned 
to  the  group  where  the  viscount  was  still  telling  stories, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  21 

and  again  she  made  believe  listen,  though  she  was  anx- 
iously waiting  for  the  time  to  go,  now  that  her  purpose 
was  accomplished. 

*'  But  what  do  you  think  of  all  this  last  comedy  dti 
sacre  de  Milan  f  asked  Anna  Pavlovna,  "and  the  new 
comedy  of  the  people  of  Genoa  and  Lucca  coming  to 
offer  their  homage  to  Monsieur  Bonaparte  sitting  on  a 
throne  and  accepting  the  homage  of  nations.  Oh,  this 
is  delicious !  No,  it  is  enough  to  make  one  beside 
one's  self.  You  would  think  the  whole  world  had  gone 
mad." 

Prince  Andrei  looked  straight  into  her  face  and 
smiled. 

"  *  God  has  given  me  this  crown  ;  beware  of  touching 
it,' "  he  said,  quoting  Bonaparte's  words  at  his  corona- 
tion. "They  say  he  was  very  handsome  as  he  pro- 
nounced these  words,"  he  added,  and  he  repeated  them 
in  Italian  :  ''^  Dio  mi  la  dona^  giiai  a  chi  la  tocca'' 

"I  hope,"  pursued  Anna  Pavlovna,  "that  this  will  at 
last  be  the  drop  too  much.  The  sovereigns  cannot 
longer  endure  this  man  who  imperils  everything." 

"The  sovereigns.'^  I  do  not  mean  Russia,"  said 
the  viscount,  politely,  but  in  a  tone  of  despair : 
"The  sovereigns,  madame .''  What  have  they  done  for 
Louis  XVI 1 1.,  for  the  Queen,  for  Madame  Elizabeth.? 
Nothing!"  he  added,  becoming  animated.  "And,  be- 
lieve me,  they  are  suffering  their  punishment  for  having 
betrayed  the  cause  of  the  Bourbons.  The  sovereigns } 
They  are  sending  ambassadors  to  compliment  the 
usurper!" 

And  with  an  exclamation  of  contempt,  he  again 
changed  his   position. 

Prince  Ippolit,  who  had  been  long  contemplating  the 
viscount  through  his  lorgnette,  suddenly  at  these  words 
turned  completely  round  to  the  little  princess,  and  ask- 
ing her  for  a  needle  proceeded  to  show  her  what  the 
escutcheon  of  Conde  was,  scratching  it  with  the  needle 
on  the  table.  He  explained  this  coat-of-arms  for  her 
benefit,  with  a  consequential  air,  as  if  the  princess  had 
asked  him  to  do  it  for  her. 


22  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  Baton  de  guculcs  engrcle  de  giieides  d'azur  —  the 
house  of  Conde,"  he  said. 

The  princess  Hstened  with  a  smile. 

"  If  Bonaparte  remains  a  year  longer  on  the  throne 
of  France,  things  will  have  gone  quite  too  far,"  said  the 
viscount,  still  pursuing  the  same  line  of  conversation, 
like  a  man  who,  without  listening  to  others,  and  con- 
sidering himself  the  best  informed  on  any  subject, 
insists  on  following  the  lead  of  his  own  thoughts.  By 
intrigue,  violence,  proscriptions  and  capital  punishment, 
society,  I  mean  good  society,  French  society,  will  be 
utterly  destroyed,  and  then  —  " 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  spread  open  his  hands. 
Pierre  was  about  to  put  in  a  word,  the  conversation  in- 
terested him,  but  Anna  Pavlovna,  who  was  watching  him, 
broke  in  :  — 

"  The  Emperor  Alexander,"  said  she,  with  the  melan- 
choly which  always  accompanied  any  reference  of  hers 
to  the  imperial  family,  "  has  declared  that  he  will  leave 
it  to  the  French  themselves  to  choose  their  own  form  of 
government.  And  I  think  that  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  whole  nation,  when  once  freed  from  the  usurper, 
will  throw  itself  into  the  arms  of  its  rightful  king,"  said 
Anna  Pavlovna,  striving  to  be  gracious  to  the  Z;;/?^;'/ and 
Royalist. 

'*  That  is  doubtful,"  said  Prince  Andrei.  "  The  vis- 
count is  perfectly  right  when  he  remarks  that  things 
have  already  gone  too  far.  I  think  it  will  be  difificult  to 
return  to  the  old." 

''  I  have  recently  heard,"  remarked  Pierre,  with  a 
flushed  face,  again  venturing  to  take  part  in  the  conver- 
sation, "  that  almost  all  the  nobility  have  gone  over  to 
Bonaparte." 

"That  is  what  the  Bonapartists  say,"  replied  the  vis- 
count, not  looking  at  Pierre.  ''  It  is  hard  nowadays  to 
know  what  the  public  opinion  of  France  really  is." 

"  Bonaparte  said  so,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  with  a  sneer. 

It  was  evident  that  the  viscount  did  not  please  him, 
and  also  that  the  viscount,  without  especially  addressing 
him,  directed  all  his  remarks  at  him. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  23 

*'  *  I  have  showed  them  the  path  of  glory,'  "  he  went 
on,  after  a  moment's  silence,  again  quoting  Napo- 
leon's words,  "  *  and  they  would  not  enter  it ;  I 
opened  my  antechambers  to  them,  and  they  rushed  in 
in  throngs,'  I  know  not  how  far  he  was  justified  in  say- 
ing that." 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  the  viscount;  "  after  the  murder  of 
the  duke,  even  the  m.ost  partial  ceased  to  look  on  him  as 
a  hero.  Even  if  he  was  a  hero  for  certain  people,"  con- 
tinued the  viscount,  addressing  Anna  Pavlovna,  "  since 
the  assassination  of  the  duke  there  is  one  martyr  more 
in  heaven,  one  hero  less  on  earth." 

Anna  Pavlovna  and  the  others  had  not  time  to  reward 
the  viscount  with  a  smile  of  approval  for  his  words,  be- 
fore Pierre  again  rushed  into  the  conversation,  and 
Anna  Pavlovna,  though  she  had  a  presentiment  that  he 
would  say  something  indecorous,  was  unable  this  time 
to  restrain  him. 

''  The  punishment  of  the  Due  d'Enghien,"  said  Mon- 
sieur Pierre,  ''  was  an  imperial  necessity,  and  I  for  one 
regard  it  as  magnanimous  of  Napoleon  not  to  hesitate  to 
as.sume  the  sole  responsibility  of  this  act." 

'' Dieii !  monDieicf'  exclaimed  Anna  Pavlovna,  in 
a  whisper  of  dismay. 

"  What,  Monsieur  Pierre !  you  see  magnanimity  in 
assassination .? "  exclaimed  the  little  princess,  smiling 
and  moving  her  work  nearer  to  her. 

*'  Ah  ! ....     Oh  !  "  said  different  voices. 

"  Capital,"  said  Prince  Ippolit,  in  English,  and  he 
began  to  slap  his  knee  with  his  hand. 

The  viscount  merely  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

Pierre  looked  triumphantly  at  the  company  over  his 
spectacles. 

*'  I  say  this,"  he  went  on  to  explain,  in  a  sort  of  desper- 
ation, "  because  the  Bourbons  fled  from  the  Revolution, 
leaving  their  people  a  prey  to  anarchy.  And  Napoleon 
was  the  only  man  able  to  understand  the  Revolution,  to 
conquer  it,  and  consequently,  for  the  sake  of  the  general 
good  he  could  not  hesitate,  before  the  life  of  an  indi- 
vidual," 


24  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"  Don't  you  want  to  come  over  to  this  table  ?  "  sug. 
gested  Anna  Pavlovna. 

But  Pierre,  without  heeding  her,  went  on  with  his  dis- 
course. 

"  No,"  said  he,  growing  more  and  more  excited, 
"  Napoleon  is  great  because  he  stands  superior  to  the 
Revolution,  because  he  has  crushed  out  its  abuses,  pre- 
serving all  that  was  good  —  the  equality  of  citizens,  and 
freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  and  only  thus  he 
gained  power." 

"  Yes,  if,  when  he  gained  the  power,  instead  of  using 
it  for  assassination,  he  had  restored  it  to  the  legitimate 
king,"  said  the  viscount,  ''then  I  should  have  called  him 
a  great  man." 

^ ''  But  he  could  not  do  that.  The  power  was  granted 
him  by  the  people,  solely  that  he  might  deliver  them 
from  the  Bourbons,  and  because  they  saw  that  he  was  a 
great  man.  The  Revolution  was  a  mighty  fact,"  con- 
tinued Monseiur  Pierre,  betraying  by  this  desperate  and 
forced  proposition,  his  extreme  youth,  and  his  propensity 
to  speak  out  whatever  was  in  his  mind. 

"  Revolution  and  regicide  mighty  facts  ! ....  After  this 
....but  will  you  not  come  over  to  this  table.?"  insisted 
Anna  Pavlovna. 

''  Contrat  social;'  suggested  the  viscount,  with  a  benig- 
nant smile. 

*'  I  am  not  talking  about  regicide,  I  am  talking  about 
ideas." 

"Yes,  ideas  of  pillage,  murder,  and  regicide,"  sug- 
gested an  ironical  voice. 

^  ''Those  are  the  extremes,  of  course,  and  the  real 
significance  is  not  in  such  things,  but  in  the  rights  of 
man,  in  emancipation  from  prejudices,  in  equality  of 
the  citizens,  and  all  these  principles  Napoleon  has  pre- 
served in  all  their  integrity." 

"  Liberty  and  equality ! "  exclaimed  the  viscount, 
scornfully,  as  if  he  had  at  last  made  up  his  mind  seri- 
ously to  prove  to  this  young  man  all  the  foolishness 
of  his  arguments.  "All  high-sounding  words,  which 
long    ago    were    shown    to    be    dans^erous.     Who    does 


WAR    AND    PEACE  25 

not  love  liberty  and  equality  ?  Our  Saviour  himself 
preached  liberty  and  equality.  But  after  the  Revolu- 
tion were  men  any  happier  ?  On  the  contrary !  We 
wanted  freedom,  and  Bonaparte  has  destroyed  it." 

Prince  Andrei  with  a  smile  looked  now  at  Pierre, 
now  at  the  viscount,  and  now  at  the  hostess.  During 
the  first  instant  of  Pierre's  outbreak,  Anna  Pavlovna 
was  appalled,  notwithstanding  her  experience  in  soci- 
ety ;  but  when  she  saw  that  Pierre's  sacrilegious  utter- 
ances did  not  make  the  viscount  lose  his  temper,  and 
when  she  became  convinced  that  it  was  impossible  to 
check  them,  she  collected  her  forces,  and  taking  the 
viscount's  side,  she  attacked  the  young  orator. 

''Mais,  mon  chcr  Monsieur  Pierre,"  said  Anna  Pav- 
lovna, ''  how  can  you  call  a  man  great  who  can  put  to 
death  a  duke,  simply  a  man,  when  you  come  to  analyze 
it,  without  trial  and  without  cause  t  " 

'*!  should  like  to  ask,"  said  the  viscount,  ''how  mon- 
sieur explains  the  Eighteenth  Brum  aire.  Was  it  not 
a  fraud }  It  was  a  piece  of  trickery  wholly  unlike  what 
a  great  man  could  have  done." 

"  And  the  prisoners  in  Africa,  whom  he  killed  t " 
suggested  the  little  princess.  "  That  was  horrible !  " 
and  she  shrugged  her  shoulders. 

"  He  is  a  low  fellow,  whatever  you  may  say." 

Monsieur  Pierre  did  not  know  which  one  to  answer ; 
he  looked  at  them  all  and  smiled.  His  smile  was  un- 
like other  men's,  falsely  compounded  of  seriousness. 
Whenever  a  smile  came  on  his  face,  then  suddenly,  Hke 
a  flash,  all  the  serious  and  even  stern  expression  van- 
ished, and  in  its  place  came  another,  genial,  frank,  and 
like  that  of  a  child  asking  forgiveness. 

The  viscount,  who  had  never  seen  this  young  Jacobin 
before,  recognized  clearly  that  he  was  not  nearly  as 
terrible  as  his  words. 

All  were  silent. 

''  How  can  you  expect  him  to  answer  all  of  you  at 
once  ?  "  said  Prince  Andrei.  "  Besides,  in  the  actions 
of  a  statesman,  one  must  distinguish  those  of  a  private 
individual,  a  general,  or  an  emperor.     So  it  seems  to  me." 


26  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"Yes,  yes,  of  course,"  put  in  Pierre,  delighted  at  this 
ratification  of  his  ideas. 

*'  It  is  impossible  not  to  acknowledge,"  pursued  Prince 
Andrei,  "that  Napoleon  was  great  as  a  man  on  the 
bridge  at  Areola,  or  in  the  hospital  at  Jaffa,  when  he 
shook  hands  with  the  plague-stricken  soldiers,  but  — 
but  there  are  other  actions  of  his  which  are  hard  to 
justify." 

Prince  Andrei,  who  had  evidently  been  desirous  of 
smoothing  over  the  clumsiness  of  Pierre's  remark,  got 
up,  with  the  intention  of  leaving,  and  giving  his  wife 
the  hint. 

Suddenly,  Prince  Ippolit  arose,  and  with  a  gesture 
of  his  hand  detaining  the  company,  and  begging  them 
to  be  seated,  he  went  on  to  say :  — 

"  Oh,  I  was  told  to-day  such  a  charming  Russian 
story.  I  must  give  you  the  benefit  of  it.  You  will 
excuse  me,  viscount,  I  must  tell  it  in  Russian.  Other- 
wise, the  flavor  of  the  story  will  be  lost." 

And  Prince  Ippolit  began  to  speak  in  Russian,  with 
much  the  same  fluency  as  Frenchmen  who  have  spent 
a  year  in  Russia  usually  attain.  All  stopped  to  listen, 
because  Prince  Ippolit  had  been  so  strenuously  urgent 
in  attracting  their  attention  to  his  story. 

"In  Moscow  there  is  a  lady,  tme  dame,  and  she  is 
very  miserly.  She  has  to  have  two  footmen  behind 
her  carriage.  And  very  tall  ones.  That  was  her 
hobby.  And  she  had  a  chambermaid,  who  was  also 
very  tall.     She  said — " 

Here  Prince  Ippolit  paused  to  think,  evidently  at  a 
loss  to  collect  his  wits. 

"  She  said,  —  yes,  she  said,  '  Girl  {a  la  fem^ne  de 
ckauibre),  put  on  a  livery  and  go  with  me,  behind  the 
carriage,  and  make  some  calls.'  " 

Here  Prince  Ippolit  snickered  and  laughed  long 
before  his  hearers  and  their  silence  produced  a  very 
disheartening  effect  upon  the  narrator.  However,  a 
few,  including  the  elderly  lady  and  Anna  Pavlovna, 
smiled. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  27 

*'  She  drove  off.  Suddenly  a  strong  wind  blew  up. 
The  girl  lost  her  hat  and  her  long  hair  came  down." 

Here  he  could  not  hold  in  any  longer,  but  through 
his  bursts  of  broken  laughter  he  managed  to  say  these 
words,  — 

"And  every  one  knew  about  it." 

That  was  the  end  of  the  anecdote.  Although  it  was 
incomprehensible  why  he  told  it,  and  why  he  felt  called 
on  to  tell  it  in  Russian  rather  than  French,  still  Anna 
Pavlovna  and  the  others  appreciated  Prince  Ippolit's 
cleverness  in  so  agreeably  putting  an  end  to  Monsieur 
Pierre's  disagreeable  and  stupid  freak. 

The  company,  after  the  anecdote,  broke  up  into  httle 
groups,  busily  engaged  in  insignificant  small  talk  about 
some  ball  that  had  been  or  some  ball  that  was  to  be,  or 
the  theatre,  or  when  and  where  they  should  meet 
again. 

CHAPTER   V 

Congratulating  Anna  Pavlovna  on  what  they  called 
her  charming  soiree,  the  guests  began  to  take  their 
departure. 

Pierre,  as  we  have  already  said,  was  awkward.  Stout, 
of  more  than  the  average  height,  broad-shouldered, 
with  huge  red  hands,  he  had  no  idea  of  the  proper  way 
to  enter  a  drawing-room,  and  still  less  the  proper  way 
of  making  his  exit;  in  other  words  he  did  not  know 
how  to  make  some  especially  agreeable  remark  to  his 
hostess  before  taking  his  leave.  Moreover,  he  was 
absent-mhided.  He  got  up,  and  instead  of  taking  his 
own  hat  he  seized  the  plumed  three-cornered  hat  of  some 
general,  and  held  it,  pulling  at  the  feathers  until  the 
general  came  and  asked  him  to  surrender  it.  But  all 
his  absent-mindedness  and  clumsiness  about  entering  a 
drawing-room,  and  about  suitable  subjects  of  conversa- 
tion, were  redeemed  by  his  expression  of  genuine  good- 
ness, simplicity,  and  modesty. 

Anna  Pavlovna  turned  to  him,  and  with    Christian 


28  WAR   AND    PEACE 

sweetness  expressing  her  forgiveness  for  his  behavior, 
nodded  to  him,  and  said,  — 

"  I  hope  I  shall  see  you  again,  but  I  hope  also  that 
you  will  change  your  opinions,  my  dear  Monsieui 
Pierre,''  said  she. 

He  could  find  no  words  to  answer  her;  he  only  bowed, 
and  let  every  one  again  see  his  smile,  which  really  said 
nothing,  except  this  :  *'  Opinions  are  opinions,  and  you 
can  see  what  a  good  and  noble  young  man  I  am."  And 
all,  Anna  Pavlovna  included,  could  not  help  feeling  this. 

Prince  Andrei  went  into  the  anteroom,  allowed  the 
lackey  to  throw  his  mantle  over  his  shoulders,  and  with 
cool  indifference  listened  to  the  chatter  of  his  wife  and 
Prince  Ippolit,  who  had  also  come  into  the  anteroom. 

Prince  Ippolit  stood  near  the  pretty  little  princess, 
and  stared  straight  at  her  through  his  lorgnette. 

"  Go  back,  Annette,  you  will  take  cold,"  said  the  little 
princess,  by  way  of  farewell  to  Anna  Pavlovna.  "  It  is 
all  understood,"  she  added,  in  an  undertone. 

Anna  Pavlovna  had  already  had  a  chance  to  speak  a 
word  with  Liza  in  regard  to  the  suggested  match  be- 
tween Anatol  and  the  little  princess's  sister-in-law. 

"I  shall  depend  upon  you,  my  dear,"  said  Anna 
Pavlovna,  also  in  an  undertone.  *'  You  write  to  her  and 
tell  me  how  her  father  will  look  at  it.  A?c  revoir:'  And 
she  went  back  from  the  anteroom. 

^  Prince  Ippolit  came  to  the  little  princess,  and  bending 
his  face  down  close  to  her  began  to  talk  to  her  in  a  half- 
whisper. 

Two  lackeys,  one  the  princess's,  holding  her  shawl, 
the  other  Prince  Ippolit's,  with  his  overcoat,  stood  wait- 
ing until  they  should  finish  talking,  and  listened  to  their 
chatter,  which  being  in  French  was  incomprehensible; 
but  their  faces  seemed  to  say,  ''  We  understand,  but  we 
do  not  care  to  show  it." 

The  princess,  as  always,  smiled  as  she  spoke,  and 
listened,  laughing  gayly. 

'*I  am  very  glad  that  I  did  not  go  to  the  ambas- 
sador's," said  Prince  Ippolit,  ''a  bore — we've  had  a 
lovely  evening,  haven't  we,  lovely." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  29 

"They  say  it  will  be  a  very  fine  ball,"  replied  the 
princess,  curling  her  downy  lip.  "  All  the  pretty  women 
in  society  will  be  there." 

"  Not  all,  because  you  are  not  there,  certainly  not  all," 
said  Prince  Ippolit,  gayly  laughing;  and  taking  the 
shawl  from  the  ser^^.nt  he  even  pushed  him  away  and 
began  to  wrap  it  round  the  princess.  Either  through 
awkwardness  or  intentionally  (no  one  could  tell  which), 
it  was  a  long  time  before  he  took  his  arms  away  from 
her  even  after  the  shawl  was  well  wrapped  round  her, 
and  he  seemed  to  be  embracing  the  young  woman.  ^ 

Gracefully,  and  still  smiling,  she  drew  back  a  little, 
turned  around  and  glanced  at  her  husband.  Prince  An- 
drei's eyes  were  closed  ;  he  seemed  so  tired  and  sleepy  ! 
■    "  Are  you  ready  .?  "  he  asked,  glancing  at  his  wife. 

Prince  Ippolit  hastily  put  on  his  overcoat,  which  being 
in  the  latest  style  came  below  his  heels,  and  stumbling 
along  in  it  rushed  to  the  steps  after  the  princess,  whom 
the  lackey  was  assisting  into  the  carriage. 

*'  Princess,  aiL  revoir,''  he  cried,  his  tongue  as  badly 
entangled  as  his  feet. 

The  princess,  gathering  up  her  dress,  took  her  seat  in 
the  darkness  of  the  carriage ;  her  husband  was  arrang- 
ing his  sword;  Prince  Ippolit,  in  his  efforts  to  be  of 
assistance,  was  in  everybody's  way. 

"Excuse  me,  sir,"  said*  Prince  Andrei  in  Russian,  in 
a  cold,  disagreeable  tone,  addressing  Prince  Ippolit,  who 
stood  in  his  way. 

"  I  shall  expect  you,  Pierre,"  said  the  same  voice,  but 
warmly  and  affectionately. 

The  postilion  whipped  up  the  horses  and  the  carriage 
rolled  noisily  away. 

Prince  Ippolit  laughed  nervously,  as  he  stood  on  the 
steps,  waiting  for  the  viscount,  whom  he  had  promised 
to  take  home. 

"  Well,  my  dear  fellow,  your  little  princess  is  charrn- 
ing,  very  charming,"  said  the  viscount,  as  he  took  his 
seat  in  the  carriage  with  Ippolit,  "yes  indeed,  she's 
charming."     He  kissed  the  tips  of  his  fingers. 


JO  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"And  really  quite  Frenchy." 

Ippolit  roared  with  laughter. 

**  And  do  you  know,  you  are  terrible  with  your  little 
innocent  ways,"  continued  the  viscount.  "  I  pity  the 
poor  husband,  —  that  little  officer  who  puts  on  the  airs 
of  a  reigning  prince." 

Ippolit  again  went  off  into  a  burst  of  laughter,  through 
which  he  managed  to  articulate :  — 

"  And  yet  you  said  that  the  Russian  ladies  were  not 
anywhere  equal  to  the  French  ladies !  One  must  know 
how  to  manage  them." 

Pierre,  being  the  first  to  reach  the  house,  went  into 
Prince  Andrei's  own  room,  like  one  thoroughly  at  home, 
and  immediately  stretching  himself  out  on  the  divan,  as 
his  habit  was,  took  up  the  first  book  that  he  found  on 
the  shelf  —  it  was  Caesar's  Commentaries  —  and  leaning 
on  his  elbow  began  to  read  in  the  middle  of  the  volume. 

"  What  have  you  been  doing  to  Mile.  Scherer  ?  She 
will  be  quite  laid  up  now,"  said  Prince  Andrei",  coming 
into  the  room  and  rubbing  his  small  white  hands  together. 

Pierre  turned  over  with  his  whole  body,  making  the 
divan  creak,  looked  up  at  Prince  Andrei  with  an  eager 
face,  smiled  and  waved  his  hand. 

"  No,"  said  he,  "  that  abbe  is  very  interesting,  only 

he  does  not  understand  the  matter  aright In  my 

opinion,  permanent  peace  is  possible,  but  I  cannot  tell 
how....  certainly  not  through  political  equilibrium." 

Prince  Andrei  was  evidently  not  interested  in  these 
abstract  questions. 

*'  It  is  not  good  form,  my  dear  fellow,  always  and 
everywhere  to  say  what  you  think.  But  have  you  come 
to  any  final  decision  yet  as  to  your  career  ?  Will  you 
be  a  horse-guardsman  or  a  diplomat  ? "  asked  Prince 
Andrei,  after  a  moment's  silence. 

Pierre  sat  up  on  the  divan,  doubling  his  legs  under 
him. 

"  You  can  imagine,  I  have  not  as  yet  the  slightest 
idea.     Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  pleases  me." 

"  But  see  here,  you  must  come  to  some  decision. 
Your  father  is  waiting." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  3^ 

Pierre  at  the  age  of  ten  had  been  sent  abroad,  with 
an  abbe  for  a  tutor,  and  had  remained  there  tiU  he  was 
twenty.  On  his  return  to  Moscow,  his  father  dismissed 
the  abbe  and  said  to  the  young  man :  — 

-  Now  go  to  Petersburg,  look  about,  and  take  your 
choice  I  give  my  consent  to  anything.  Here  is  a 
letter  to  Prince  Vasili,  and  here  is  money  for  you. 
Write  me  about  everything,  and  I  will  help  you  m  any 

^^Pierre  had  been  trying  for  three  months  to  choose  a 
career,  and  had  not  succeeded.  It  was  in  regard  to 
this  choice  that  Prince  Andrei   spoke.     Pierre  rubbed 

his  forehead.  ,,      . ,  i  r      •       4. 

''  But  he  must  be  a  Freemason,"  said  he,  referring  to 
the  abbe  whom  he  had  met  that  evening. 

'*That  is  all  nonsense,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  again 
stopping  him  short;  "let  us  talk  about  your  affairs. 
Have  you  been  to  the  Horse  Guards  ? " 

^'  No  not  yet,  but  here  is  an  idea  that  occurred  to  me 
and  I  'wanted  to  tell  you;  now  there  is  war  against 
Napoleon.  If  it  had  been  a  war  for  freedom,  I  should 
have  taken  part,  I  should  have  been  the  first  to  enter 
the  military  service;  but  to  help  England  and  Austria 
against  the  greatest  man  in  the  world,  that  is  not  good. 

Prince  Andrei  merely  shrugged  his  shoulders  at 
Pierre's  childish  talk.  He  pretended  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  reply  to  such  stupidities,  but  m  reality  it  was 
difficult  to  settle  this  naive  question  in  any  other  way 
than  as  Prince  Andrei  did  answer  it.  ^    ^ 

*'If  all  men  made  war  only  for  their  convictions, 
there  would  be  no  war,"  said  he. 

^'  That  would  be  splendid,"  said  Pierre. 

Prince  Andrei  laughed.  ^  „ 

"  Very  likely  it  would  be  splendid,  but  it  will  never  be. 

"  Now,  why  are  you  going  to  war  }  "  asked  Pierre. 

**Why.?  I  don't  know.  It  must  be  so.  Besides, 
I'm  going  "  —  He  paused.  "  I  am  going  because  the 
life  which  I  lead  here,  my  life,  is  not  to  my  mind." 


32  WAR    AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  rustle  of  a  woman's  gown  was  heard  in  the  ad- 
joining room.  As  if  caught  napping,  Prince  Andref 
shook  himself,  and  his  face  assumed  the  same  expres- 
sion which  it  had  worn  in  Anna  Pavlovna's  drawing- 
room. 

Pierre  set  his  feet  down  from  the  sofa. 

The  princess  came  in.  She  had  already  changed  her 
gown  for  another,  a  house  dress,  but  equally  fresh  and 
elegant. 

Prince  Andrei  got  up  and  courteously  pushed  forward 
an  easy-chair. 

"Why  is  it,  I  often  wonder,"  she  remarked,  speaking 
as  always  in  French,  and  at  the  same  time  briskly  and 
spryly  sitting  down  in  the  easy-chair,  **  why  Annette 
never  married.  How  stupid  you  all  are,  messieurs,  that 
you  never  married  her.  You  will  excuse  me  for  saying 
so,  but  you  have  not  the  slightest  notion  how  to  talk 
with  women.  What  an  arguer  you  are.  Monsieur 
Pierre." 

''  Your  husband  and  I  were  just  this  moment  arguing. 
I  cannot  understand  why  he  wants  to  go  to  war,"  said 
Pierre,  addressing  the  princess  without  any  of  the  em- 
barrassment so  commonly  shown  in  the  relations  of  a 
young  man  toward  a  young  woman. 

The  princess  gave  a  start.  Evidently  Pierre's  words 
touched  her  to  the  quick. 

'*  Ah,  that  is  exactly  what  I  say  !  "  said  she.  "  I  do 
not  understand,  really  I  do  not  understand  why  men 
cannot  live  without  war.  Why  is  it  that  we  women  do 
not  want  it  and  do  not  need  it  at  all  ?  Now  you  be  the 
judge.  I  will  put  the  matter  just  as  it  is  :  here  he  is 
adjutant  to  uncle,  a  most  brilliant  position.  Everybody 
knows  him.  Everybody  esteems  him.  The  other  day 
at  the  Apraksins'  I  heard  a  lady  asking:  *  Is  that  the 
famous  Prince  Andrei .? '     On  my  word  of  honor  !  " 

She  laughed. 

"  He   is   received  so  everywhere.       He   might  very 


WAR   AND    PEACE  33 

easily  be  even  one  of  his  majesty's  aides.  You  know  the 
Emperor  spoke  very  cordially  with  him.  Annette  and 
I  have  talked  it  all  over  ;  it  might  be  very  easily  ar- 
ranged.    What  do  you  think  .?  " 

Pierre  glanced  at  Prince  Andrei,  and  seeing  that  this 
conversation  did  not  please  his  friend,  made  no  reply 
to  her. 

"When  are  you  going.?"  he  asked. 

"  Ah  !  don't  speak  of  going,  don't  speak  of  it.  I  do 
not  wish  to  hear  a  word  of  it !  "  exclaimed  the  princess, 
in  the  same  capriciously  vivacious  tone  in  which  she  had 
spoken  to  Ippolit.  It  was  obviously  out  of  place  in  the 
family  circle,  in  which  Pierre  was  an  adopted  member. 

'*  To-day  when  it  came  over  me  that  I  had  to  break 
off  from  all  these  pleasant  relations  —  and  then,  you 
know,  Andre  " —  She  blinked  her  eyes  significantly  at 
her  husband.  "  I  dread  it,  I  dread  it,"  she  whispered, 
making  a  shiver  run  down  her  back. 

Her  husband  looked  at  her  with  a  surprised  expres- 
sion, as  if  for  the  first  time  he  had  noticed  that  any  one 
besides  himself  and  Pierre  had  come  into  the  room. 
Then  with  a  cool  politeness  he  addressed  his  wife,  in- 
quiringly :  — 

'   '*  What  is  it  that  you  dread,  Liza.      I  cannot  under- 
stand," said  he. 

"  Now  how  selfish  all  you  men  are,  all,  all  selfish. 
Simply  from  his  own  whim,  God  knows  why,  he  deserts 
me,  shuts  me  up  in  the  country  alone." 

"  With  my  father  and  sister,  don't  forget  that,"  said 
Prince  Andrei,  gently. 

"All  alone,  just  the  same,  away  from  mj/  friends  — 
and  he  expects  me  not  to  be  afraid." 

Her  tone  grew  querulous ;  her  lip  was  lifted,  so  that 
her  face  looked  not  mirthful,  but  repulsive  and  like  a 
squirrel's.  She  paused,  as  if  she  regarded  it  as  inde- 
corous to  speak  of  her  condition  before  Pierre,  though 
this  was  the  real  secret  of  her  fear. 

"  And  still  I  do  not  understand  what  you  dread,"  said 
Prince  Andrei,  deliberately,  not  taking  his  eyes  from  his 
wife. 

VOL.  I.  —  3 


34  WAR    AND    PEACE 

The  princess  blushed  and  spread  open  her  hands  with 
a  gesture  of  despair. 

"  No,  Andre,  I  insist  upon  it,  you  have  changed 
so!" 

**  Your  doctor  bids  you  go  to  bed  earlier,"  said  Prince 
Andrei.     "You  had  better  retire." 

The  princess  made  no  answer,  and  suddenly  her  short 
downy  lip  trembled ;  Prince  Andrei',  shrugging  his 
shoulders,  began  to  walk  up  and  down  the  room. 

Pierre  gazed  through  his  glasses  with  naive  curiosity, 
first  at  him,  then  at  the  princess,  and  made  a  motion 
as  if  he  also  would  get  up,  but  then  changed  his  mind. 

''  What  difference  does  it  make  to  me  if  Monsieur 
Pierre  is  here!"  suddenly  exclaimed  the  little  princess, 
and  her  pretty  face  at  the  same  time  was  contracted 
into  a  tearful  grimace.  "  I  have  been  wanting  for  a 
long  time  to  ask  you,  Andre,  why  you  have  changed 
toward  m.e  so .''  What  have  I  done  to  you }  You  are 
going  to  the  army,  you  do  not  pity  me  at  all.  Why 
is  it.?" 

*'  Lise  !  "  exclaimed  Prince  Andrei,  but  this  one  word 
carried  an  entreaty,  a  threat,  and  above  all  a  conviction 
that  she  herself  would  regret  what  she  had  said ;  but 
she  went  on  hurriedly  :  — 

"  You  treat  me  as  if  I  were  ill  or  a  child.  I  see  it  all. 
You  were  not  so  six  months  ago." 

"  Lise,  I  beg  of  you  to  stop,"  said  Prince  Andrei',  still 
more  earnestly. 

Pierre,  growing  more  and  more  agita.ted  as  this  con- 
versation proceeded,  arose  and  went  to  the  princess. 
He  evidently  could  not  endure  the  sight  of  tears,  and 
he  himself  was  ready  to  weep. 

"  Calm  yourself,  princess.  This  is  only  your  fancy, 
because,  I  assure  you,  I  myself  have  experienced.... 
and  so....  because ....  No,  excuse  me,  a  stranger  is  in 
the  way....     No,  calm  yourself....  good-by." 

Prince  Andrei  detained  him,  taking  him  by  the  arm:  — 

"  No,  stay,  Pierre.  The  princess  is  so  kind  that  she 
will  not  have  the  heart  to  deprive  me  of  the  pleasure  of 
spending  the  rest  of  the  evening  with  you."- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  35 

"  Yes,  he  only  thinks  about  his  own  pleasure ! "  ex- 
claimed the  princess,  not  restraining  her  angry  tears. 

"  Lise,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  dryly,  raising  his  voice 
sufficiently  to  show  that  his  patience  was  exhausted. 

Suddenly  the  angry,  squirrel-like  expression  on  the 
princess's  pretty  little  face  changed  to  one  of  alarm, 
both  fascinating  and  provocative  of  sympathy;  her 
beautiful  eyes  looked  from  under  her  long  lashes  at 
her  husband,  and  there  came  into  her  face  that  timid 
look  of  subjection  such  as  a  dog  has  when  it  wags  its 
drooping  tail  quickly  but  doubtfully. 

*'  Mo7i  Dieii  !  Mon  Dieu  !  "  muttered  the  princess, 
and  gathering  up  the  skirt  of  her  dress  with  one  hand, 
she  went  to  her  husband  and  kissed  him  on  the  fore- 
head. 

"  Good-night,  Lise,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  getting  up 
and  courteously  kissing  her  hand,  as  if  she  were  a 
stranger. 

CHAPTER   VII 

The  friends  were  silent.  Neither  the  one  nor  the 
other  felt  like  being  the  first  to  speak.  Pierre  looked  at 
Prince  Andrei ;  Prince  Andrei'  rubbed  his  forehead  with 
his  slender  hand. 

**  Let  us  have  some  supper,"  said  he,  with  a  sigh, 
getting  up  and  going  to  the  door. 

They  went  into  the  dining-room,  elegantly,  newly,  and 
richly  furnished  in  the  latest  style.  Everything,  from 
the  napkins  to  the  silver,  the  china,  and  the  glassware, 
had  that  peculiar  imprint  of  newness  which  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  establishment  of  a  young  couple. 

In  the  midst  of  supper,  Prince  Andrei  leaned  forward 
on  his  elbows,  and,  like  a  man  who  has  for  a  long  time 
had  something  on  his  heart  and  suddenly  determines  to 
confess  it,  he  began  to  talk  with  an  expression  of  nervous 
exasperation  such  as  Pierre  had  never  before  beheld  in 
his  friend :  — 

"  Never,  never  get  married,  my  friend !  This  is  my 
advice  to  yovi.     Po  not  marry  until  you  have  come  to 


1,6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

the  conclusion  that  you  have  done  all  that  is  in  your 
power  to  do  and  until  you  have  ceased  to  love  the 
woman  whom  you  have  chosen,  until  you  have  seen 
clearly  what  she  is  ;  otherwise  you  will  make  a  sad  and 
irreparable  mistake.     When  you  are  old  and  good  for 

nothing,  then    get    married Otherwise,  all    that   is 

good  and  noble  in  you  will  be  thrown  away.  All  will  be 
wasted  in  trifles.  Yes,  yes,  yes !  Don't  look  at  me  in 
such  amazement.  If  ever  you  have  any  hope  of  any- 
thing ahead  of  you,  you  will  be  made  to  feel  at  every 
step  that,  as  far  as  you  are  concerned,  all  is  at  an  end, 
all  closed  to  you,  except  the  drawing-room,  where  you 
will  rank  with  court  lackeys  and  idiots.  —  That's  a 
fact!" 

He  waved  his  hand  energetically. 

Pierre  took  off  his  spectacles,  and  this  made  his  face, 
as  he  gazed  in  amazement  at  his  friend,  even  more  ex- 
pressive than  usual  of  his  goodness  of  heart. 

*' My  wife,"  continued  Prince  Andrei,  "is  a  lovely 
woman.  She  is  one  of  those  few  women  to  whom  a 
man  can  feel  that  his  honor  is  safely  intrusted ;  but,  my 
God  !  what  would  I  not  give  at  this  moment  if  I  were 
not  married !  You  are  the  first  and  only  person  to 
whom  I  have  said  this,  and  it  is  because  I  love  you." 

Prince  Andrei,  in  saying  this,  was  still  less  like  the 
Bolkonsky  who,  that  same  evening,  had  been  sitting  in 
Anna  Pavlovna's  easy-chairs,  murmuring  French  phrases 
as  he  blinked  his  eyes.  Every  muscle  in  his  spare  face 
was  quivering  with  nervous  animation;  his  eyes,  in  which 
before  the  fire  of  life  seemed  to  be  extinguished,  now 
gleamed  with  a  fierce  and  intense  brilliancy.  It  was 
evident  that,  however  lacking  in  life  he  might  appear  in 
ordinary  circumstances,  he  more  than  made  up  for  it  by 
his  energy  at  moments  of  almost  morbid  excitability. 

"You  cannot  understand  why  I  say  this  to  you,"  he 
went  on.  "  Why,  it  is  the  whole  history  of  a  life.  You 
talk  about  Bonaparte  and  his  career,"  said  he,  although 
Pierre  had  not  said  a  word  about  Bonaparte.  "  You 
talk  about  Bonaparte,  but  Bonaparte,  when  he  was  toil- 
ing, went  step  by  step  straight  for  his  goal;  he  was  free ; 


WAR   AND    PEACE  37 

he  let  nothing  stand  between  him  and  his  goal,  and  he 
reached  it.  But  tie  yourself  to  a  woman  and,  like  a 
prisoner  in  chains,  your  whole  freedom  is  destroyed. 
And  in  proportion  as  you  feel  that  you  have  hope  and 
powers,  the  more  you  will  be  weighed  down  and  tor- 
mented with  regrets.  Drawing-rooms,  tittle-tattle,  balls, 
vulgar  show,  meanness, —  such  is  the  charmed  circle 
from  which  I  cannot  escape.  I  am  now  getting  ready 
for  the  war,  the  greatest  war  that  ever  was,  and  yet  I 
know  nothing  and  am  fit  for  nothing.  I  am  very,  very 
Hkable  and  very  keen,"  continued  Prince  Andrei,  "  and 
at  Anna  Pavlovna's  they  like  to  hear  me  talk.  And  this 
stupid  society,  without  which  my  wife  cannot  live,  and 
these  women  ....  If  you  could  only  know  what  all  these 
distinguished  women  and  women  .in  general  amount  to  ! 
My  father  is  right.  Egotism,  ostentation,  stupidity, 
meanness  in  every  respect  — such  are  women  when  they 
show  themselves  as  they  are.  You  see  them  in  society 
and  think  that  they  amount  to  something,  but  they  are 
naught,  naught,  naught!  No,  don't  marry,  my _  dear 
heart,  don't  marry,"  said  Prince  Andrei  in  conclusion. 

"It  seems  ridiculous  to  me,"  said  Pierre,  *'  that  you 
should  regard  yourself  as  incapable  and  your  life  as 
spoiled.  Everything  is  before  you  —  everything.  And 
you...." 

He  did  not  finish  his  sentence,  but  his  very  tone  made 
it  evident  how  highly  he  prized  his  friend  and  how  much 
he  expected  from  him  in  the  future. 

"  How  can  he  speak  so !  "  thought  Pierre,  who  con- 
sidered Prince  Andrei  the  model  of  all  accomplishments, 
for  the  very  reason  that  Prince  Andrei  united  in  himself, 
to  the  highest  degree,  all  those  qualities  that  were  lack- 
ing in  Pierre,  and  that  more  nearly  than  anything  else 
expresses  the  concept,  —  will-power. 

Pierre  always  admired  Prince  Andrews  ability  to  meet 
with  perfect  ease  all  sorts  of  people,  his  extraordinary 
memory,  his  breadth  of  knowledge,  —  he  had  read 
everything,  he  knew  about  everything,  he  had  ideas  on 
every  subject,  —  and,  above  all,  his  powers  of  work  and 
study.     And  if  Pierre  was  often  struck  by  Andrei's  lack 


38  WAR   AND    PEACE 

of  aptitude  for  speculative  philosophy  —  which  was  his 
own  specialty  —  he  at  least  regarded  it  not  as  a  fault 
but  as  a  sign  of  strength. 

In  all  the  best  relations,  however  friendly  and  simple, 
flattery  or  praise  is  indispensable,  just  as  grease  is  in- 
dispensable for  making  wheels  move  easily. 

''  I  have  reached  the  end  of  things,"  said  Prince 
Andrei.  "  What  is  there  to  say  about  me  !  Let  us  talk 
about  yourself,"  said  he,  after  a  short  silence,  and  smil- 
ing at  his  consoling  thoughts.  This  smile  was  instantly 
reflected  on  Pierre's  face. 

"  But  what  is  there  to  say  about  me,"  asked  Pierre, 
his  lips  parting  in  a  gay,  careless  smile.  "  What  am  I, 
anyway  ?     I  am  a  bastard  !  " 

And  suddenly  his  face  grew  red.  It  was  evident  that 
he  had  exerted  great  effort  to  say  that.  "  Without 
name,  without  fortune  ! ....      And  yet  it  is  true " 

He  did  not  say  what  was  true. 

'*  I  am  free  for  the  present,  and  I  like  it.  Only  I 
don't  know  what  to  take  up.  I  should  like  to  have  a 
serious  talk  with  you  on  the  subject." 

Prince  Andrei'  looked  at  him  with  kindly  eyes.  But 
his  glance,  friendly  and  affectionate  as  it  was,  betrayed 
the  consciousness  of  his  superiority. 

"  I  am  fond  of  you  for  the  special  reason  that  you 
are  the  only  live  man  in  all  our  circle.  It  is  well  with 
you.  Choose  whatever  you  like,  it  is  all  the  same.  It 
will  be  well  with  you  anywhere ;  but  there's  one  thing. 
Stop  going  to  those  Kuragins'  and  leading  their  kind  of 
life.  That  sort  of  thing  does  not  become  you  :  all  those 
revels,  that  wild  life,  and  all  —  " 

"What  do  you  care,  my  dear  fellow,"  exclaimed 
Pierre,  shrugging  his  shoulders,  "  women,  my  dear, 
women !  " 

"I  don't  understand  it,"  replied  Andrei.  "  Respecta- 
ble women,  that  is  another  thing,  but  Kuragin's  women, 
women  and  wine,  I  don't  understand  it." 

Pierre  had  been  living  at  Prince  Vasili  Kuragin's,  and 
had  been  taking  part  in  the  dissipated  life  of  his  son 
Anatol,  the  very  same  young  man  to  whom  it  had  been 


WAR   AND    PEACE  39 

proposed  to  marry  Prince  Andrei's  sister  in  order  to 
reform  him. 

''  Do  you  know,"  said  Pierre,  as  if  a  happy  thought 
had  come  unexpectedly  into  his  mind,  —  "  seriously,  I 
have  been  thinking  about  it  for  some  time.  Since 
I  have  been  leading  this  sort  of  life,  I  have  not  been 
able  to  think  or  to  come  to  any  decision.  My  head 
aches ;  I  have  no  money.  This  evening  he  invited  me, 
but  I  am  not  going." 

"  Give  me  your  word  of  honor  that  you  will  not  go 
again." 

"  Here's  my  word  on  it !  " 


CHAPTER  VHI 

It  was  already  two  o'clock  when  Pierre  left  his  friend. 
It  was  a  luminous  June  night,  characteristic  of  Peters- 
burg. Pierre  took  his  seat  in  the  hired  carriage,  with 
the  intention  of  going  home,  but  the  farther  he  rode 
the  more  impossible  he  found  it  to  think  of  sleeping 
on  such  a  night,  which  was  more  like  twiHght  or  early 
morning.  He  could  see  far  down  through  the  empty 
streets.  On  the  way  it  occurred  to  him  that  the  gam- 
bling club  were  to  meet  as  usual  that  evening  at  Anatol 
Kuragin's,  after  which  they  were  accustomed  to  have 
a  drinking  bout,  topping  off  with  one  of  Pierre's  favorite 
entertainments. 

*'  It  would  be  good  fun  to  go  to  Kuragin's,"  said  he  to 
himself,  but  instantly  he  remembered  that  he  had  given 
Prince  Andrei  his  word  of  honor  not  to  go  there  again. 

But,  as  happens  to  men  of  no  strength  of  charac- 
ter, he  immediately  felt  such  a  violent  desire  to  have 
one  more  last  taste  of  this  dissipated  life,  so  well  known 
to  him,  that  he  determined  to  go.  And,  in  excuse  for 
it,  the  thought  entered  his  mind  that  his  promise  was 
not  binding,  because,  before  he  had  given  it  to  Prince 
Andrei,  he  had  also  promised  Anatol  to  be  present  at 
his  house ;  moreover,  he  reasoned  that  all  such  pledges 
were  merely  conditional  and  had  no  definite  meaning, 


40  WAR    AND    PEACE 

especially  if  it  were  taken  into  consideration  that  per- 
haps by  the  next  day  he  might  be  dead,  or  something 
might  happen  to  him  so  extraordinary  that  the  distinc- 
tions of  honorable  and  dishonorable  would  entirely 
vanish.  Arguments  of  this  nature  often  occurred  to 
Pierre,  entirely  nullifying  his  plans  and  purposes. 

He  went  to  Kuragin's. 

Driving  up  to  the  great  house  at  the  Horse-Guard 
barracks,  where  Anatol  lived,  he  sprang  upon  the  lighted 
porch,  ran  up  the  steps,  and  entered  the  open  door. 
There  was  no  one  in  the  anteroom ;  empty  bottles, 
cloaks,  and  overshoes  were  scattered  about ;  there  was 
an  odor  of  wine ;  farther  on  he  heard  loud  talking  and 
shouts. 

Play  and  supper  were  over,  but  the  guests  had  not 
yet  dispersed.  Pierre  threw  off  his  cloak  and  went  -into 
the  first  room,  where  were  the  remains  of  the  supper : 
a  single  waiter,  thinking  that  no  one  could  see  him,  was 
stealthily  drinking  up  the  wine  in  the  half-empty  glasses. 
In  a  third  room  were  heard  the  sounds  of  scuffling, 
laughter,  the  shouts  of  well-known  voices,  and  the  growl 
of  a  bear.  Eight  young  men  were  eagerly  crowding 
around  an  open  window.  Three  were  having  sport 
with  the  young  bear  which  one  of  their  number  was 
dragging  by  a  chain  and  trying  to  frighten  the  others 
with. 

"  I  bet  a  hundred  on  Stevens,"  cried  one. 

"  See,  he  can't  hold  him,"  cried  a  second. 

"  I  bet  on  Dolokhof,"  cried  a  third.  "  Get  those  fel- 
lows away,  Kuragin." 

"There,  let  Mishka  go  !     This  is  the  wager." 

"Without  stopping  to  breathe,  or  he  loses,"  cried  a 
fourth. 

"  Yakof,  bring  the  bottle,  Yakof !  "  cried  the  host  of 
the  evening,  a  tall,  handsome  fellow,  standing  in  the 
midst  of  the  crowd,  in  a  single  thin  shirt,  thrown  open 
at  the  chest.  —  "Hold  on,  gentlemen!  Here  he  is, 
here  is  our  dear  friend,  Petrushka,"  he  cried,  addressing 
Pierre. 

A   short   man,   with    clear   blue    eyes,   whose   voice, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  41 

among  all  those  drunken  voices,  was  noticeable  for  its 
tone  of  sobriety,  shouted  from  the  window  :  — 

"  Come  here  and  hear  about  the  wagers." 

This  was  Dolokhof,  an  officer  of  the  Semyonovsky 
regiment,  a  well-known  gambler  and  duelist,  whose 
home  was  with  Anatol.  Pierre  smiled,  as  he  gayly 
looked  around  him. 

*•  I  don't  understand  at  all.     What's  up  }  " 

''Hold  on!  He's  not  drunk.  Bring  a  bottle,"  cried 
Anatol,  and  taking  a  glass  from  the  table,  went  up  to 
Pierre,  — 

"  First  of  all,  drink." 

Pierre  proceeded  to  drain  glass  after  glass,  at  the 
same  time  closely  observing  and  listening  to  the  drunken 
guests,  who  had  again  crowded  around  the  window. 
Anatol  kept  his  glass  filled  with  wine,  and  told  him  how 
Dolokhof  had  laid  a  wager  with  Stevens,  an  English 
naval  man  who  happened  to  be  there,  that  he,  Dolokhof, 
was  to  drink  a  bottle  of  rum,  sitting  in  the  third  story 
window  with  his  legs  hanging  out. 

*'  There,  now,  drink  it  all,"  said  Anatol,  handing  the 
last  glass  to  Pierre,  "  I  shan't  let  you  off." 

*'  No,  I  don't  wish  any  more,"  replied  Pierre,  and 
pushing  Anatol  aside,  he  went  to  the  window.  Dolo- 
khof was  holding  the  Englishman  by  the  arm,  and  was 
clearly  and  explicitly  laying  down  the  conditions  of  the 
wager,  turning  more  particularly  to  Anatol  and  Pierre, 
as  they  approached. 

Dolokhof  was  a  man  of  medium  height,  with  curly 
hair  and  bright  blue  eyes.  He  was  twenty-five  years 
old.  Like  all  infantry  officers,  he  wore  no  mustache,  so 
that  his  mouth,  which  was  the  most  striking  feature  of 
his  face,  was  wholly  revealed.  The  lines  of  the  mouth 
were  drawn  with  remarkable  delicacy.  The  upper  lip 
closed  firmly  over  the  strong  lower  one  in  a  sharp  curve 
at  the  center,  and  in  the  corners  hovered  constantly 
something  in  the  nature  of  two  smiles  —  one  in  each 
corner !  and  all  taken  together  and  especially  in  con- 
junction with  a  straightforward,  bold,  intelligent  look, 
made  it  impossible  not  to  take  notice  of  his  face. 


42  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Dolokhof  was  not  a  rich  man,  and  he  had  no  influen 
tial  connections.  But  although  Anatol  spent  ten  thou- 
sand rubles  a  year  and  it  was  known  that  Dolokhof  lived 
with  him,  nevertheless,  he  had  succeeded  in  winning 
such  a  position  that  Anatol  and  all  who  were  acquainted 
with  the  two  men  had  a  higher  regard  for  him  than  for 
Anatol.  Dolokhof  played  nearly  every  kind  of  a  game 
and  almost  always  won.  However  much  he  drank,  he 
never  was  known  to  lose  his  head.  Both  Kuragin  and 
Dolokhof  were  at  this  time  notorious  among  the  rakes 
and  spendthrifts  of  Petersburg. 

The  bottle  of  rum  was  brought.  Two  lackeys,  evi- 
dently made  timid  and  nervous  by  the  orders  and  shouts 
of  the  boon  companions,  tried  to  pull  away  the  sash 
that  hindered  any  one  from  sitting  on  the  outer  slope 
of  the  window-seat. 

Anatol,  with  his  swaggering  way,  came  up  to  the 
window.  He  wanted  to  smash  something.  He  pushed 
the  lackeys  away  and  tugged  at  the  sash,  but  the  sash 
would  not  yield.     He  broke  the  window-panes. 

"  Now  you  try  it,  you  man  of  muscle,"  said  he,  call- 
ing Pierre, 

Pierre  seized  hold  of  the  cross-bar,  gave  a  pull,  and 
the  oaken  framework  gave  way  with  a  crash. 

"Take  it  all  out,  or  they'll  think  I  clung  to  it,"  said 
Dolokhof. 

"The  Englishman  accepts  it,  does  he  .^  —  All  right.?" 
asked  Anatol. 

"All  right,"  said  Pierre,  glancing  at  Dolokhof,  who 
took  the  bottle  of  rum  and  went  to  the  window,  through 
which  could  be  seen  the  sky  where  the  evening  and 
morning  light  were  beginning  to  mingle. 

He  leaped  on  the  window-sill  with  the  bottle  in  his 
hand. 

"  Listen !  "  he  cried,  as  he  stood  there  and  looked 
back  into  the  room. 

All  were  silent. 

"I  wager,"  —  he  spoke  French  so  that  the  English- 
man might  understand  him,  and  spoke  it  none  too  well 
either, — -"I   wager  fifty  sovereigns;    or   perhaps   you 


WAR   AND    PEACE  43 

prefer  a  hundred  ? "  he  added,  addressing  the  English- 
man. 

"  No,  fifty,"  replied  the  Englishman. 

"Very  well,  then,  fifty  it  is,  —  that  I  will  drink  this 
whole  bottle  of  rum  without  taking  it  once  from  my 
mouth ;  drink  it  sitting  in  this  window,  in  that  place 
there"  —  he  bent  over  and  pointed  to  the  sloping  pro- 
jection of  the  wall  outside  the  window,  —  *'and  not 
holding  on  to  anything.     Is  that  understood  ?  " 

"Very  good,"  said  the  Englishman. 

Anatol  turned  to  the  Englishman,  and,  holding  him 
by  the  button  of  his  coat  and  looking  down  on  him,  — 
for  the  EngHshman  was  short, — began  to  repeat  the 
terms  of  the  wager  in  English. 

"Hold!"  cried  Dolokhof,  thumping  on  the  window 
with  the  bottle,  in  order  to  attract  attention,  —  hold, 
Kuragin,  listen !  If  any  one  else  does  the  same  thing, 
then  I  will  pay  down  a  hundred  sovereigns.  Do  you 
understand  ? " 

The  Englishman  nodded  his  head,  though  he  did  nol 
make  it  apparent  whether  or  no  he  were  prepared  to 
accept  this  new  wager.  Anatol  still  held  him  by  the 
button,  and,  in  spite  of  the  nods  that  he  made  to  signify 
that  he  understood  all  that  was  said,  Anatol  insisted  on 
translating  Dolokhof's  words  for  him  into  English. 

A  lean  young  Lifeguardsman,  who  had  been  playing 
a  losing  game  all  the  evening,  cHmbed  on  the  window, 
leaned  over,  and  gazed  down,  — 

"  Oo  !  Oo !  Oo  !  "  he  exclaimed,  as  he  looked  down 
from  the  window  to  the  flagstones  below. 

"Hush!"  cried  Dolokhof,  and  he  pulled  the  officer 
back  from  the  window,  who,  getting  his  feet  entangled 
in  his  spurs,  awkwardly  leaped  down  into  the  room. 

Placing  the  bottle  on  the  window-sill  so  as  to  be 
within  reach,  Dolokhof  warily  and  coolly  climbed  into 
the  window.  Letting  down  his  legs  and  spreading  out 
both  hands,  he  measured  the  width  of  the  window,  sat 
down,  let  go  his  hands,  moved  to  the  right,  then  to  the 
left,  and  took  up  the  bottle.  Anatol  brought  two  can- 
dles and  set  them  on  the  window-seat,  although  it  was 


44  WAR    AND    PEACE 

now  quite  light.  Dolokhof's  back,  in  the  white  shirty 
and  his  curly  head  were  illuminated  on  both  sides.  All 
gathered  around  the  window.  The  Englishman  stood 
in  the  front  row.  Pierre  smiled  and  said  nothing.  One 
of  the  older  men  present  suddenly  stepped  forward, 
with  a  stern  and  frightened  face,  and  attempted  to  seize 
Dolokhof  by  the  shirt. 

"  Gentlemen,  this  is  folly ;  he  will  kill  himself,"  said 
this  man,  who  was  less  foolhardy  than  the  rest. 

Anatol  restrained  him,  — 

"  Don't  touch  him ;  you  will  startle  him,  and  then  he 
might  fall.     What  if  he  should  ?     Hey  .?  " 

Dolokhof  turned  around,  straightening  himself  up, 
and  again  stretching  out  his  hands. 

"  If  any  one  touches  me  again,"  said  he,  hissing  the 
words  through  his  thin  compressed  lips,  *'  I  will  send 
him  flying  down  there  !     So  now  !  " 

Thus  having  spoken,  he  resumed  his  former  position, 
dropped  his  hands,  and  seizing  the  bottle  he  put  it  to 
his  lips,  bent  his  head  back,  and  raised  his  free  arm  as 
a  balance.  One  of  the  lackeys,  who  had  begun  to  clear 
away  the  broken  glass,  paused  in  his  work,  and,  still 
bending  down,  fixed  his  eyes  on  the  window  and  Dolo- 
khof's back.  Anatol  stood  straight  with  staring  eyes. 
The  Englishman,  thrusting  out  his  lips,  looked  askance. 
The  man  who  had  tried  to  stop  the  proceeding  repaired 
to  one  corner  of  the  room  and  threw  himself  on  the 
divan,  with  his  face  to  the  wall.  Pierre  covered  his 
eyes,  and  though  the  feeble  smile  still  hovered  over  his 
lips,  his  face  now  expressed  horror  and  apprehension. 

All  were  silent.  Pierre  took  his  hand  from  his  eyes. 
Dolokhof  was  still  sitting  in  the  same  position,  only  his 
head  was  thrown  farther  back,  so  that  the  curly  hair  in 
the  nape  of  his  neck  touched  his  shirt-collar,  and  the 
hand  holding  the  bottle  was  Hfted  higher  and  higher, 
trembling  under  the  effort.  The  bottle  was  evidently 
nearly  empty  and  consequently  had  to  be  held  almost 
perpendicularly  over  his  head. 

"Why  should  it  take  so  long?"  thought  Pierre.  It 
seemed  to  him  as  if  more  than  a  half-hour  had  elapsed, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  45 

Suddenly  Dolokhof's  body  made  a  backward  motion 
nnd  his  hand  trembled  nervously ;  this  tVemor  was  suffi- 
cient to  make  him  slip  as  he  sat  on  the  sloping  ledge. 
In  fact,  he  slipped,  and  his  arm  and  head  wavered  more 
violently  as  he  struggled  to  regain  his  balance.  He 
stretched  out  one  hand  to  clutch  the  window-seat,  but 
refrained  from  touching  it. 

Pierre  again  covered  his  eyes,  and  declared  to  him- 
self that  he  would  not  open  them  again.  Suddenly  he 
was  conscious  that  there  was  a  commotion  around  him. 
He  looked  up.  Dolokhof  was  standing  on  the  window- 
seat  ;  his  face  was  pale  but  radiant. 

"  Empty ! " 

He  flung  the  bottle  at  the  Englishman,  who  cleverly 
caught  it.  Dolokhof  sprang  down  from  the  window. 
He  exhaled  a  powerful  odor  of  rum. 

"Capital!"  — ''Bravo!"  — '^ That's  a  wager  worth 
while!"  — "The  devil  take  you  all,"  were  the  shouts 
that  rang  from  all  sides. 

The  EngUshman,  taking  out  his  purse,  was  counting 
out  his  money.  Dolokhof  was  scowling,  and  had  nothing 
to  say.  Pierre  started  for  the  window. 
.  "  Gentlemen  !  Who  wants  to  make  the  bet  with  me ; 
I  will  do  the  same  thing,"  he  cried.  "  But  there's  no 
need  of  any  wager.  Give  me  a  bottle.  I  will  do  it  any- 
way.    Bring  a  bottle." 

"  Let  him  !     Let  him  !  "  said  Dolokhof,  smiling. 

"What  is  the  matter  with  you.?"— "Are  you  beside 
yourself  .?"  —  "  We  won't  let  you  !  "  —  "  It  makes  you 
dizzy  even  on  a  staircase,"  were  shouted  from  various 
sides. 

"  I  will  drink  it ;  give  me  a  bottle  of  rum,"  cried  Pierre, 
pounding  on  the  table  with  a  drunken  and  resolute  ges- 
ture, and  chmbing  into  the  window.  He  was  seized  by 
the  arm,  but  his  strength  was  so  great  that  whoever 
approached  him  was  sent  flying  across  the  room. 

"  No,  you  will  never  dissuade  him  that  way,"  said 
Anatol.  "Hold  on;  I  will  deceive  him.  Listen,  I  will 
make  the  wager  with  you,  but  to-morrow ;  but  now  we 
are  all  going  to 's." 


46  WAR. AND    PEACE 

*' Come  on,"  cried  Pierre,  "come  on!  And  we  will 
take  Mishka  with  us."  And  seizing  the  bear,  he  began 
to  gallop  round  the  room  with  him. 


CHAPTER    IX 

Prince  Vasili  fulfilled  the  promise  which  he  had 
made  to  the  Princess  Drubetskaya,  when  she  asked  him 
on  the  evening  of  Anna  Pavlovna's  reception,  to  help 
her  only  son,  Boris.  The  request  had  been  preferred 
to  the  emperor,  and  contrary  to  the  experience  of  many 
others,  he  was  allowed  to  enter  the  Semyonovsky  regi- 
ment of  the  Guard  as  ensign.  But  in  spite  of  all  Anna 
Mikhailovna's  efforts  and  intrigues,  Boris  failed  of  his 
employment  as  aide  or  attache  to  Kutuzof. 

Shortly  after  Anna  Pavlovna's  reception,  the  princess 
returned  to  Moscow  and  went  straight  to  her  rich  rela- 
tives, the  Rostofs,  at  whose  house  she  always  stayed 
when  visiting  in  Moscow,  and  where  her  idolized 
Borenka  had  been  educated  from  early  childhood  and 
had  lived  some  years,  waiting  to  be  transferred  from  the 
Line  to  his  position  as  ensign  of  the  Guard.  The  Guard 
had  already  left  Petersburg  on  the  twenty-second  of 
August,  and  the  young  man,  delayed  in  Moscow  by  his 
uniform  and  outfit,  was  to  join  his  regiment  at  Rad- 
zivilof. 

The  Rostofs  were  celebrating  the  name-day  of  the 
mother  and  the  youngest  daughter,  both  of  whom  were 
named  Natalia.  Since  morning  there  had  been  an  un- 
ceasing stream  of  carriages  coming  and  going  with 
guests,  who  brought  their  congratulations  to  the  coun- 
tess's great  mansion  on  the  Povarskaya,  so  well  known 
to  all  Moscow.  The  countess  herself  and  her  eldest 
daughter,  a  beautiful  girl,  were  in  the  drawing-room 
receiving  the  guests,  whose  places  were  constantly  filled 
by  newcomers. 

The  Countess  Rostova  was  a  woman  of  forty-five»  of 
a  thin  Oriental  type  of  countenance,  and  evidently 
worn  out  by  her  cares  as  mother  of  a  family  of  a  dozen 


WAR   AND    PEACE  47 

children.  Her  deliberateness  of  motion  and  speech, 
arising  from  her  lack  of  strength,  gave  her  a  certain 
appearance  of  dignity  which  commanded  respect. 

The  Princess  Anna  Mikhailovna  Drubetskaya,  in  her 
capacity  of  friend  of  the  family,  was  also  in  the  draw- 
ing-room, helping  to  receive  the  company  and  join  in 
the  conversation.  The  young  people  were  in  the  rear 
rooms,  not  considering  it  incum^bent  upon  them  to  take 
part  in  receiving  the  visitors.  The  count  met  the  guests, 
and  escorted  them  to  the  door  again,  urging  them  all  to 
dine  with  him. 

''Very,  very  much  obliged  to  you,  ma  chkre  or  men 
cher''  {ma  cJiere  or  mo7i  cherhQ  said  to  all  without  excep- 
tion, without  the  slightest  shadow  of  difference  whether 
his  guests  stood  high  or  low  in  the  social  scale),  '*  much 
obUged  to  you  for  myself  and  for  my  dear  ones  whose 
name-day  we  are  celebrating.  See  here,  come  in  to 
dinner.  You  will  affront  me,  if  you  do  not,  mon  cher. 
Cordially  I  invite  you,  and  my  whole  family  join  with 
me,  ma  Mre'' 

These  words  he  repeated  to  all,  without  exception  or 
variation,  with  an  unchanging  expression  on  his  round, 
jolly,  and  clean-shaven  countenance,  and  with  a  monoto- 
nously firm  grip  of  the  hand,  and  with  repeated  short 
bows.  Having  escorted  a  guest  to  his  carriage,  the 
count  would  return  to  this,  that,  or  the  other  visitor 
still  remaining  in  the  drawing-room ;  dropping  down  on 
a  chair,  with  the  aspect  of  a  man  who  understands  and 
enjoys  the  secret  of  life,  he  would  cross  his  legs  in  boy- 
ish fashion,  lay  his  hands  on  his  knees,  and  shaking  his 
head  significantly,  would  set  forth  his  conjectures  con- 
cerning the  weather,  or  exchange  confidences  about 
health,  sometimes  speaking  in  Russian,  sometimes  in 
very  execrable  but  self-confident  French,  and  then  again 
with  the  air  of  a  weary  man,  who  is  nevertheless  bound 
to  fulfil  all  obligations,  he  would  go  to  the  door  with 
still  another  departing  guest,  straightening  the  thin-gray 
hairs  on  his  bald  head,  and  dutifully  proffering  the  in- 
vitations  to  dinner. 

Sometimes  returning  through  the  entry  to  the  draw- 


48  WAR   AND    PEACE 

ing-room,  he  would  pass  through  the  conservatory  and 
butler's  room  to  the  great  marble  hall  where  covers  were 
laid  for  eighty  guests,  and,  glancing  at  the  butlers  who 
were  bringing  the  silver  and  china,  setting  the  tables 
and  unfolding  the  damask  table-linen,  he  would  call  to 
him  Dimitri  Vasilyevitch,  a  man  of  noble  family,  who 
had  charge  of  all  his  affairs,  and  would  say :  — 

"  Well,  well,  Mitenka,  see  that  everything  is  all  right. 
That's  good,  that's  good,"  he  would  say,  glancing  with 
satisfaction  on  the  huge  extension  table.  "  The  prin- 
cipal thing  is  the  service.     Very  good,  very  good." 

And  with  a  deep  sigh  of  satisfaction,  he  would  go 
back  to  the  drawing-room  once  more. 

**  Marya  Lvovna  Karagina  and  her  daughter,"  an- 
nounced the  countess's  footman,  in  a  thundering  bass 
voice,  coming  to  the  door.  The  countess  was  thought- 
ful for  a  moment,  and  took  a  pinch  of  snuff  from  a  gold 
snuff-box  ornamented  with  a  portrait  of  her  husband. 

** These  callers  have  tired  me  "out,"  said  she.  "Well, 
she  is  the  last  one  I  shall  receive.  She  is  very. affected. 
—  Ask  her  to  come  in,"  said  she  to  the  footman,  in  a 
mournful  voice,  as  if  her  words  had  been :  ''  Kill  me 
and  have  done  with  it." 

A  tall,  portly,  haughty-looking  lady,  in  a  rustling 
gown,  came  into  the  drawing-room,  followed  by  her 
round-faced,  smiling  young  daughter. 

"Dear  Countess,  it  has  been  such  a  long  time.... 
she  has  been  ill  in  bed,  poor  girl."....  "At  the 
Razumovsky  ball...."  ^^  Et  la  Comtesse  Apraksine ....'' 
"I  have  had  such  an  enjoyable  time...."  Such  were 
the  phrases,  spoken  by  lively  feminine  voices  interrupt- 
ing one  another,  and  mingling  with  the  rustle  of  silks 
and  the  moving  of  chairs. 

That  sort  of  conversation  had  begun  which  is  ex- 
pressly contrived  so  that  at  the  first  pause  the  visitor 
is  ready  to  get  up  and,  with  a  rustling  of  garments,  to 
murmur  :  "  I  am  charmed  ....  mamma's  health  ....  and  the 
Countess  Apraksina" — and  again  with  rustling  gar- 
ments to  beat  a  retreat  into  the  anteroom,  to  throw  on 
the  shuba  or  the  cloak,  and  to  depart. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  49 

The  conversation  was  turning  on  the  chief  item  of 
city  news  at  that  time,  namely,  the  illness  of  the  well- 
known  old  Count  Bezukhoi,  one  of  the  richest  and 
handsomest  men  of  Catherine's  time,  and  also  about 
his  illegitimate  son,  Pierre,  the  same  young  man  who 
had  conducted  himself  in  such  an  unseemly  manner 
at  Anna  Pavlovna's  reception. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  for  the  old  count,"  said  one  of  the 
ladies,  "his  health  is  so  wretched,  and  now  the  morti- 
fication his  son  causes  him  —  it  will  be  the  death  of 
him." 

'*  What  is  that .?  "  asked  the  countess,  as  if  she  were 
not  aware  of  what  the  visitor  was  talking  about,  although 
she  had  heard  fifty  times  already  the  cause  of  Count 
Bezukhoi's  mortification. 

'*  It  all  comes  from  the  present  system  of  education. 
Sending  them  abroad!"  pursued  the  lady.  "This 
young  man  has  been  left  to  himself,  and  now  they  say 
that  he  has  been  carrying  on  so  horribly  in  Petersburg 
that  the  police  had  to  send  him  out  of  the  city." 

"  Pray,  tell  us  about  it,"  urged  the  countess. 

"  He  made  a  bad  choice  of  friends,"  remarked  the 
Princess  Anna  Mikhailovna.  "  Prince  Vasili's  son,  this 
Pierre,  and  a  Dolokhof,  they  say,  have  been  doing  — 
heaven  only  knows  what.  But  all  of  them  have  had 
to  suffer  for  it.  Dolokhof  has  been  reduced  to  the 
ranks,  and  Bezukhoi's  son  has  been  sent  to  Moscow, 
and  Anatol  Kuragin  has  been  taken  in  charge  by  his 
father.  At  all  events,  he  has  been  sent  away  from 
Petersburg." 

"  Yes,  but,  pray,  what  have  they  been  doing }  "  asked 
the  countess. 

"  They  acted  like  perfect  cutthroats,  especially  Dolo- 
khof," said  the  visitor.  "He  is  a  son  of  Marya  Ivan- 
ovna  Dolokhova,  — such  an  excellent  woman,  just  think 
of  it !  Can  you  imagine  it }  the  three  of  them,  some- 
how, got  hold  of  a  bear,  took  it  with  them  into  a  car- 
riage, and  carried  it  to  the  house  of  some  actresses. 
The  police  hastened  to  apprehend  them.  They  seized 
the  officer  and  tied  him  back  to  back  to  the  bear,  and 

VOL.  I.  —  4 


so  WAR   AND    PEACE 

then  threw  the  bear  into  the  Moika ;  the  bear  floated 
off  with  the  police  officer  on  his  back !  " 

''  Capital,  ma  cherc,  what  a  figure  the  officer  must 
have    cut!"    cried   the    count,  bursting  with    laughter. 

"  Oh,  how  terrible !  how  can  you  laugh,  count  ? " 
But  the  ladies  had  to  laugh  in  spite  of  themselves. 

"  It  was  with  difficulty  that  they  rescued  the  unfortu- 
nate man,"  pursued  the  visitor.  "And  to  think  that 
a  son  of  Count  Kirill  Vladimirovitch  Bezukhoi  should 
find  amusement  in  such  intellectual  pursuits,"  she  added. 
"  But  they  say  he  is  so  well  educated  and  clever !  That 
shows  what  educating  young  men  abroad  makes  of 
them !  I  hope  that  no  one  will  bring  him  here,  though 
he  is  so  rich.  They  wanted  to  introduce  him  to  me. 
I  decidedly  refused;  I  have  daughters." 

"  Why  did  you  say  that  this  young  man  was  so  rich  }  " 
asked  the  countess,  bending  away  from  the  younger 
ladies,  who  immediately  pretended  not  to  hear  what 
she  was  saying.  ''You  see,  he  has  only  illegitimate 
children.     It  appears  —  and  Pierre  is  also  illegitimate." 

The  guest  waved  her  hand :  "  I  imagine  he  has  a 
score  of  them." 

The  Princess  Anna  Mikhailovna  took  part  in  the 
conversation,  with  the  evident  desire  of  showing  off 
her  powerful  connections  and  her  acquaintance  with 
all  the  details  of  high  life. 

''This  is  the  truth  of  the  matter,"  said  she,  signifi- 
cantly, and  also  in  a  half-whisper,  "  Count  Kirill  Vladi- 
mirovitch's  reputation  is  notorious;  as  for  his  children, 
he  has  lost  count  of  them,  but  this  Pierre  has  been  his 
favorite." 

"  How  handsome  the  old  man,"  said  the  countess, 
"  and  only  last  year  too !  I  never  saw  a  handsomer 
man  !  " 

"  Now  he  is  very  much  changed,"  said  Anna  Mikhai- 
lovna. "As  I  was  going  to  say,  on  his  wife's  side,  Prince 
Vasili  is  the  direct  heir  to  all  his  property,  but  the  old 
man  is  very  fond  of  Pierre,  has  taken  great  pains  with 
his  education,  and  has  written  to  the  emperor  about 
him ;  so  that  no  one  knows,  if  he  should  die,  —  he  is  so 


WAR   AND    PEACE  51 

weak,  that  it  may  happen  any  moment,  and  Dr.  Lor- 
rain  has  come  up  from  Petersburg,  —  no  one  knows,  I 
say,  which  will  get  his  colossal  fortune,  Pierre  or  Prince 
Vasili.  He  has  forty  thousand  serfs,  and  millions !  I 
know  all  about  this,  because  Prince  Vasili  himself  told 
me.  Yes,  and  besides,  Kirill  Vladimirovitch  is  my  great- 
uncle  on  my  mother's  side.  And  he  is  also  Boris's  god- 
father," she  added,  pretending  that  she  attributed  no 
significance  to  this  circumstance. 

"  Prince  VasiU  came  to  Moscow,  yesterday.  He  is  on 
some  official  business,  I  was  told,"  said  the  guest. 

"Yes,  but  entre  notis;'  said  the  princess,  "that's  a 
pretext ;  he  has  come  principally  on  account  of  Count 
Kirill  Vladimirovitch,  because  he  knew  that  he  was  so 
sick." 

"At  all  events,  ma  chkre,  that  was  a  splendid  joke," 
said  the  count ;  and  perceiving  that  the  elderly  visitor 
did  not  hear  him,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  young 
ladies.  "  Charming  figure,  that  cut  by  the  police  officer, 
—  I  can  imagine  it !  " 

And  imitating  the  way  the  unfortunate  police  officer 
would  have  waved  his  arms,  he  again  burst  out  into  a 
ringing  bass  laugh,  which  made  his  portly  form  fairly 
shake,  as  men  laugh  who  always  live  well,  and  indulge 
in  generous  wines. 

"  So  glad  to  have  you  dine  with  us,"  said  he. 


CHAPTER  X 

A  SILENCE  ensued.  The  countess  looked  at  the 
caller,  smiling  pleasantly,  but  nevertheless  making  no 
pretense  to  hide  that  she  would  not  be  sorry  if  she  got 
up  and  took  her  departure.  The  daughter  was  already 
arranging  her  dress  and  looking  inquiringly  at  her 
mother,  when  suddenly  there  was  heard  in  the  next  room 
the  noise  of  several  persons  running  toward  the  door, 
then  the  catching  and  upsetting  of  a  chair,  and  instantly 
into  the  drawing-room  darted  a  maiden  of  thirteen,  fold- 
ing something  in  her  short  muslin  skirt.     She  halted  in 


52  WAR   AND    PEACE 

the  middle  of  the  room,  and  it  was  evident  that  her  wild 
frolic  had  carried  her  farther  than  she  had  intended.  At 
the  same  instant  there  appeared  in  the  door  a  student 
with  a  crimson  collar,  a  young  officer  of  the  Guard,  a 
maiden  of  fifteen,  and  a  plump  rosy-faced  little  boy  in  a 
frock. 

The  count  jumped  up,  and  opening  out  his  arms, 
threw  them  around  the  Httle  girl  who  had  come  run- 
ning in. 

"  Ah !  here  she  is,"  he  cried,  with  a  jolly  laugh. 
'*  Her  name-day,  ma  ckere,  her  name-day  !  " 

*'  My  dear  girl,  there  is  a  time  for  all  things,"  said  the 
countess,  feigning  severity.  "  You  are  always  spoiling 
her,  Elie,"  she  added,  addressing  her  husband. 

"  How  do  you  do,  my  dear;  I  congratulate  you,"  said 
the  visitor.  "  What  a  fascinating  girl !  "  she  added, 
turning  to  the  mother. 

The  little  maiden  was  at  that  charming  age  when  she 
is  no  longer  a  child  nor  yet  a  young  lady.  She  was  full 
of  life,  but  not  pretty.  Her  eyes  were  bjack  and  her 
mouth  was  large  ;  her  bare  childish  shoulders  were  ris- 
ing and  falling  in  her  bodice  from  the  excitement  of  her 
race ;  her  dark  locks  were  tossed  back ;  her  thin  arms 
were  bare ;  she  wore  lace-trimmed  pantalets  and  her  low 
shoes  displayed  her  slender  little  ankles. 

Tearing  herself  away  from  her  father,  she  ran  to  her 
mother,  and  giving  no  heed  to  her  stern  reproof,  hid 
her  blushing  face  in  the  lace  folds  of  her  mother's 
mantilla,  and  went  into  a  fit  of  laughter.  The  cause  of 
her  laughter  was  the  doll  which  she  took  out  from 
under  her  skirt,  trying  to  tell  some  fragmentary  story 
about  it. 

"  Do  you  see  } ....  my  doll ....  Mimi ....     You  see ...." 

And  Natasha  was  unable  to  say  any  more,  it  all 
seemed  to  her  so  ludicrous.  She  leaned  on  her  mother 
and  laughed  so  merrily  and  infectiously,  that  all,  even 
the  conceited  visitor,  in  spite  of  herself,  joined  in  her 
amusement. 

*'  Now,  run  away,  run  away  with  your  monster,"  ad- 
monished the  mother,  pushing  away  her  daughter  with 


WAR   AND    PEACE  S3 

pretended  sternness.     "  She  is  my  youngest,"  she  added, 
turning  to  the  visitor. 

Natasha,  for  a  moment  raising  her  face  from  her 
mother's  lace  mantle,  glanced  up  at  the  stranger  through 
her  tears  of  laughter  and  again  hid  her  face. 

The  visitor,  compelled  to  admire  this  family  scene, 
felt  it  incumbent  upon  her  to  take  some  part  in  it. 

"Tell  me,  my  dear,"  said  she,  addressing  Natasha, 
"what  relation  is  this  Mimi  to  you.?  She  is  your 
daughter,  I  suppose." 

Natasha  was  displeased  by  the  condescending  tone 
in  which  the  lady  addressed  her.  She  made  no  reply 
and  looked  solemnly  at  her. 

Meantime,  all  the  young  people  —  the  officer,  Bon's, 
the  son  of  the  Princess  Anna  Mikhailovna,  Nikolai* 
the  student,  the  count's  oldest  son,  Sonya,  the  count's 
fifteen-year-old  niece,  and  the  little  Petrusha,  his  young- 
est boy — crowded  into  the  drawing-room,  evidently 
doing  their  utmost  to  restrain  within  the  bounds  of 
propriety  the  excitement  and  merriment  that  convulsed 
their  faces.  It  could  be  seen  that  there  in  the  rear 
rooms,  from  which  they  had  rushed  so  impetuously, 
they  had  been  engaged  in  much  more  entertaining  con- 
versation than  town  gossip,  the  weather,  and  the  Coun- 
tess Apraksina. 

Occasionally  they  would  glance  at  one  another  and 
find  it  hard  to  refrain  from  bursting  out  laughing  again. 
The  two  young  men,  the  student  and  the  officer,  who 
had  been  friends  from  childhood,  were  of  the  same 
age  and  were  both  good-looking,  but  totally  unlike 
each  other.  Boris  was  tall  and-  fair,  with  regular,  deli- 
cate features  and  a  placid  expression.  Nikolai'  was  a 
short,  curly-haired  young  man,  with  a  frank,  open  coun- 
tenance. On  his  upper  lip  the  first  dark  down 
had  already  begun  to  appear,  and  his  whole  face  was 
expressive  of  impetuosity  and  enthusiasm.  Nikolai's 
face  had  flushed  crimson  the  moment  he  entered  the 
drawing-room.  It  was  plain  to  see  that  he  strove  in 
vain  to  find  something  to  say :  Borfs,  on  the  contrary, 
immediately  regained  his  self-possession,  and  began  to 


54  WAR    AND    PEACE 

relate,  calmly  and  humorously,  how  he  had  been  ac- 
quainted with  this  Mimi-kulka  when  she  was  a  fine 
young  lady,  before  her  nose  had  lost  its  beauty ;  how 
since  their  acquaintance,  begun  five  years  before,  she 
had  grown  aged  and  cracked  as  to  the  whole  surface 
of  her  cranium  ! 

As  he  said  this  he  looked  at  Natasha,  but  she  turned 
away  from  him  and  looked  at  her  little  brother,  who  was 
squeezing  his  eyes  together  and  shaking  with  suppressed 
laughter,  and  finding  that  she  could  no  longer  control 
herself,  snickered  out  loud  and  darted  from  the  room  as 
fast  as  her  nimble  little  feet  would  carry  her.  Boris 
managed  to  preserve  his  composure. 

"  Ma  man,  do  you  not  want  to  go  for  a  drive  ?  Shall 
I  order  the  carriage?"  he  asked,  turning  to  his  mother 
with  a  smile. 

"  Yes,  yes,  go  and  order  it,  please,"  said  she,  return- 
ing his  smile. 

Bon's  quietly  left  the  room  and  went  in  pursuit  of 
Natasha;  the  plump  little  boy  trotted  sturdily  after 
them,  as  if  he  was  vexed  at  heart  at  the  disarrangement 
made  in  his  plans. 


CHAPTER   XI 

Of  the  young  people,  not  reckoning  the  young  lady 
caller  and  the  count's  oldest  daughter,  who  was  four 
years  older  than  her  sister  and  regarded  herself  as  al- 
ready grown  up,  only  Nikolai  and  the  niece  Sonya 
remained  in  the  drawing-room. 

Sonya  was  a  slender  miniature  little  brunette,  with  a 
tawny-tinted  complexion  especially  noticeable  on  her 
neck  and  bare  arms,  which  were  slender,  but  graceful 
and  muscular.  She  had  soft  eyes  shaded  by  long 
lashes,  and  she  wore  her  thick  black  hair  in  a  braid 
twined  twice  about  her  head.  By  the  easy  grace  of  her 
movements,  by  the  suppleness  and  softness  of  her 
slender  limbs,  and  by  a  certain  cunning  and  coyness  of 
manner,  she  reminded  one  of  a  beautiful  kitten  which 


WAR   AND    PEACE  55 

promises  soon  to  grow  into  a  lovely  cat.  She  evidently 
considered  it  the  right  thing  to  manifest  her  interest  in 
the  general  conversation  by  a  smile ;  but  her  eyes  invol- 
untarily shot  glances  of  such  passionate  girhsh  adora- 
tion from  under  their  long,  thick  lashes  at  her  cousin 
who  was  soon  to  join  the  army,  that  her  smile  could  not 
for  an  instant  deceive  any  one,  and  it  was  plain  to  see 
rhat  the  kitten  had  only  crouched  down  in  order  to  jump 
and  play  all  the  more  merrily  with  her  cousin,  as  soon 
as  the  two  followed  the  example  of  Boris  and  Natasha, 
and  left  the  drawing-room. 

'*  Yes,  ma  chercj'  said  the  old  count,  turning  to  their 
caller  and  pointing  to  Nikolai,  "  his  friend  Boris,  here, 
has  been  appointed  an  officer  in  the  Guard,  and  they  are 
such  good  friends  that  they  cannot  be  separated ;  so  he 
throws  up  the  University  and  his  old  father,  and  is  go- 
ing into  the  military  service,  ma  chere.  And  yet  there 
was  a  place  all  ready  for  him  in  the  department  of  the 
Archives,  and  all.  That's  what  friendship  is,"  con- 
eluded  the  count,  with  a  dubious  shake  of  the  head. 

"Yes,  there's  going  to  be  war,  they  say,"  said  the 
visitor. 

"  They  have  been  saying  so  for  a  long  time,"  replied 
the  count,  ''  and  they  will  say  so  again,  and  keep  saying 
so,  and  that  will  be  the  end  of  it.  Ma  chore,  that's  what 
friendship  is,"  he  repeated,  "he  is  going  to  join  the 
hussars." 

The  visitor,  not  knowing  what  reply  to  make,  shook 
her  head. 

"  It  is  not  out  of  friendship  at  all,"  declared  Nikolai', 
flushing  and  spurning  the  accusation  as  if  it  were  a 
shameful  aspersion  on  his  character.  "  It  is  not  from 
friendship  at  all,  but  simply  because  I  feel  drawn  to  a 
military  life." 

He  glanced  at  his  cousin  and  at  the  young  lady 
visitor;  both  were  looking  at  him  with  a  smile  of 
approbation. 

"  Colonel  Schubert  of  the  Pavlogradsky  regiment  of 
hussars  is  going  to  dine  with  us  to-night.  He  has  been 
home  on  leave  of  absence,  and  is  going  to  take  Nikolai 


S6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

back  with  him.  What's  to  be  done  about  it  ?  "  asked 
the  count,  shrugging  his  shoulders  and  affecting  to  treat 
as  a  jest  what  had  evidently  occasioned  him  much 
pain. 

*'  I  have  already  told  you,  papenka,"  said  the  lad, 
"  that  if  you  do  not  wish  me  to  go,  I  will  stay  at  home. 
But  I  know  that  I  am  not  good  for  anything  except  the 
army  ;  I  cannot  be  a  diplomatist  or  a  chinovnik,.!  can't 
hide  what  I  feel,"  and  as  he  said  this  he  glanced,  with  a 
handsome  young  fellow's  coquetry,  at  Sonya  and  the 
young  lady  visitor. 

The  kitten  feasted  her  eyes  on  him  and  seemed  ready 
at  a  second's  notice  to  play  and  show  all  her  kittenish 
nature. 

''  Well,  well,  let  it  go,"  said  the  old  count.  "  He's 
all  on  fire  !  This  Bonaparte  has  turned  all  their  heads; 
they  all  think  what  an  example  he  gave  them  in  rising 
from  a  lieutenant  to  be  an  emperor.  Well,  good  luck 
to  them,"  he  added,  not  noticing  his  visitor's  sarcastic 
smile. 

They  began  to  talk  about  Napoleon.  Julie  Karagina 
turned  to  young  Rostof :  — 

"  How  sorry  I  was  that  you  didn't  come  last  Thurs- 
day to  the  Arkharof s'.  It  was  a  bore  to  be  there  without 
you,"  said  she,  giving  him  an  affectionate  smile. 

The  young  man,  much  flattered,  drew  his  seat  nearer 
to  her  and  engaged  the  smiling  Julie  in  a  confidential 
conversation,  entirely  oblivious  that  this  coquettish  smile 
cut  as  with  a  knife  the  jealous  heart  of  poor  Sonya,  who 
flushed  and  tried  to  force  a  smile. 

In  the  midst  of  this  conversation  he  happened  to 
glance  at  her.  She  gave  him  a  look  of  passionate 
anger,  and,  scarcely  able  to  hold  back  her  tears,  but 
with  the  pretended  smile  still  on  her  lips,  got  up  and 
left  the  room.  All  Nikolai's  animation  deserted  him. 
He  availed  himself  of  the  first  break  in  the  conversa- 
tion, and  with  a  disturbed  countenance  left  the  room  in 
search  of  Sonya. 

"  How  the  secrets  of  these  young  folks  are  sewed 
with    white    threads !  "    exclaimed    Anna    Mikhailovna, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  57 

» 

nodding   in   the    direction    of    the   vanishing    NikolaY. 
'*  Cousinship's  a  risky  relationship,"   she  added. 

'^Yes,"  repUed  the  countess,  when,  as  it  were,  the 
very  light  of  the  sun  had  departed  from  the  room  with 
these  young  people,  and  then,  as  if  she  were  answering 
a  question  which  no  one  had  asked,  but  which  was  con- 
stantly in  her  mind  :  *'  How  much  suffering,  how  much 
unrest,  must  be  gone  through  with  in  order  that  at  last 
we  may  have  some  joy  in  them  !  And  even  now !  truly 
there's  more  sorrow  than  joy.  You're  always  in  appre- 
hension, always  in  apprehension  !  This  is  the  age  when 
there  are  so  many  perils  both  for  young  girls  and  for 
boys." 

''  It  all  depends  upon  the  education,"  said  the  visitor. 
"  Yes,  you  are  right,"  continued  the  countess.  *'  So 
far  I  have  been,  thank  God,  the  friend  of  my  children, 
and  enjoy  their  perfect  confidence,"  declared  the  coun- 
tess, repeating  the  error  of  many  parents  who  cherish 
the  illusion  that  their  children  have  no  secrets  in  which 
they  do  not  share.  "  I  know  that  I  shall  always  be  my 
daughters'  chief  confidante,  and  that  Nikolenka,  if,  with 
his  impetuous  nature,  even  he  plays  some  pranks,  as  all 
boys  will,  will  not  be  like  those  Petersburg  young  men!" 
"  Yes,  they're  splendid,  splendid  children,"  emphati- 
cally affirmed  the  count,  who  always  settled  every  question 
too  complicated  for  him  by  finding  everything  splendid. 
"  But  what's  to  be  done  !  He  wanted  to  go  into  the 
hussars  !     What  would  you  have,  my  love  .?  " 

*'  What  a  charming  creature  your  youngest  girl  is  !  " 
said  the  visitor.     "  Like  powder  !  " 

"  Yes,  like  powder,"  said  the  count.  "She  resembles 
me !  And  what  a  voice  she  has  !  Although  she  is  my 
daughter,  yet  I  am  not  afraid  to  say  that  she  is  going  to 
be  a  singer,  a  second  Salomoni.  We  have  engaged  an 
Italian  master  to  teach  her." 

"Isn't  she  too  young  yet.?  They  say  it  is  injurious  for 
the  voice  to  study  at  her  age." 

"Oh,  no !  why  do  you  consider  it  too  early.?"  exclaimed 
the  count.  "  Didn't  our  mothers  get  married  when  they 
were  twelve  or  thirteen  }  " 


58  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"And  she's  already  in  love  with  Bon's!  Just  think 
of  it!"  said  the  countess,  looking  at  the  princess  with  a 
sweet  smile  ;  then  apparently  answering  a  thought  which 
constantly  occupied  her,  she  went  on  to  say:  — 

*•  Well,  now,  you  see  if  I  were  too  strict  with  her,  if  I 
were  to  forbid  her  ....God  knows  what  they  might  be 
doing  on  the  sly !  "  (she  meant,  they  might  exchange 
kisses)  ''but  now  I  know  everything  they  say.  She 
comes  to  me  herself  every  evening,  and  tells  me  all 
about  it.  Maybe,  I  spoil  her,  but  indeed  this  seems  to 
be  the  best  plan.  I  kept  a  too  strict  rein  over  my  eldest 
daughter." 

"Yes,  I  was  brought  up  in  an  entirely  different  way," 
said  the  oldest  daughter,  the  handsome  Countess  Viera, 
smiling.  But  the  smile  did  not  add  to  the  beauty  of  her 
face,  as  often  happens ;  on  the  contrary  it  lost  its  natu- 
ral expression  and  therefore  became  unpleasant.  She 
was  handsome,  intelligent,  well  bred,  well  educated,  her 
voice  was  pleasant,  what  she  said  was  right  and  proper 
enough,  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  her  mother  and  all  the 
others  looked  at  her,  as  if  surprised  at  her  saying  such 
a  thing,  and  regarded  it  as  one  of  the  things  that  had 
better  have  been  left  unsaid. 

"  People  always  try  to  be  very  wise  with  their  eldest 
children,  —  try  to  accomplish  something  extraordinary," 
said  the  visitor. 

"  How  naughty  to  prevaricate,  my  love !  The  little 
countess  tried  to  be  very  wise  with  Viera,"  said  the 
count.  "  Well,  on  the  whole,  she  has  succeeded  splen- 
didly," he  added,  winking  approvingly  at  his  daughter. 

The  visitors  got  up  and  took  their  departure,  promis- 
ing to  return  to  dinner. 

"What  manners!  they  kept  staying  and  staying," 
remarked  the  countess,  after  she  had  seen  her  visitors 
to  the  door. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  59 


CHAPTER  XII 

When  Natasha  left  the  drawing-room,  she  ran  only 
as  far  as  the  conservatory.  There  she  paused,  listening 
to  the  chatter  in  the  drawing-room  and  expecting  Bon's 
to  follow  her.  She  was  already  beginning  to  grow  im- 
patient, and  stamped  her  foot,  on  the  very  verge  of 
crying  because  he  did  not  follow  her  instantly,  when 
she  heard  the  young  man's  noisy,  deliberate  steps. 
Natasha  hastily  sprang  between  some  tubs  full  of  flow- 
ers and  concealed  herself. 

Boris  paused  in  the  center  of  the  room,  looked  around 
him,  brushed  some  specks  of  dust  from  the  sleeve  of  hi;' 
uniform,  and  then  going  to  the  mirror,  contemplated  his 
handsome  face.  Natasha,  holding  her  breath,  peered 
out  from  her  hiding-place  and  waited  to  see  what  he 
would  do.  He  stood  for  some  moments  in  front  of  the 
mirror,  smiled  with  satisfaction,  and  went  toward  the 
entrance 'door. 

Natasha  was  just  about  to  call  to  him,  but  then  she 
thought  better  of  it.  ''  Let  him  find  me,"  she  said  to 
herself. 

As  soon  as  Boris  had  left  the  conservatory,  Sonya 
came  in  from  the  other  door,  all  flushed,  and  angrily 
muttering  to  herself.  Natasha  restrained  her  first  im- 
pulse to  run  to  her  and  kept  in  her  hiding-place,  as  if 
under  an  invisible  cap,  looking  at  what  was  going  on  in 
the  world.  She  was  experiencing  a  new  and  peculiar 
enjoyment. 

Sonya  was  still  muttering  something,  and  looked 
expectantly  toward  the  drawing-room.  Then  Nikolai 
made  his  appearance. 

**  Sonya  !  what  is  the  matter  ?  How  can  you  do  so  ?  " 
he  asked,  going  up  to  her. 

"  No,  no,  leave  me  alone  !  "  and  Sonya  began  lO  sob. 

"Well,  I  know  what  the  trouble  is." 

"  If  you  know,  so  much  the  better ;  go  back  to  her, 
then." 

"  So-o-onya  !  one  word  !     How  can  you  torment  me, 


6o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

and  torment  yourself,  for  a  mere  fancy !  "  asked  NikolaY, 
taking  her  hand. 

Sonya  did  not  withdraw  her  hand  and  ceased  weeping. 

Natasha,  not  moving,  and  hardly  breathing,  with 
sparkling  eyes  peered  from  her  concealment.  "  What 
will  they  do  now,  I  wonder,"  she  said  to  herself. 

"  Sonya  !  The  whole  world  is  nothing  to  me  !  Thou 
alone  art  all  to  me,"  said  Nikolai.  '*  I  will  prove  it  to 
thee!" 

**  I  don't  like  it  when  you  talk  so  with  ....  " 

"  Well,  I  won't  do  so  any  more,  only  forgive  me, 
Sonya !  " 

He  drew  her  to  him  and  kissed  her. 

"  Ah  !  how  nice  !  "  thought  Natasha,  and  when  Sonya 
and  Nikolai'  had  left  the  room,  she  followed  them  and 
called  Boris  to  her. 

"  Boris  !  Come  here,"  said  she,  with  her  face  full  of 
mischievous  meaning.  "  I  want  to  tell  you  something. 
Here,  come  here !  "  she  said,  and  drew  him  into  the 
conservatory,  to  the  very  place  among  the  tubs  where 
she  had  been  in  hiding.     Boris,  smiling,  followed  her. 

"  What  may  this  something  be  .-*  "  he  inquired. 

She  grew  confused,  glanced  around  her,  and  espying 
the  doll  which  she  had  thrown  on  one  of  the  tubs,  she 
took  it  up. 

"  Kiss  the  doll,"  said  she. 

Boris  looked  down  into  her  eager  face,  with  an  in- 
quiring, gracious  look,  and  made  no  reply. 

"  Don't  you  care  to .?  Well,  then  come  here,"  said 
she,  and  made  her  way  deeper  among  the  flowers,  at 
the  same  time  throwing  away  the  doll.  "  Nearer, 
nearer,"  she  whispered.  She  seized  the  officer's  coat 
by  the  cuff,  and  her  flushed  face  expressed  eagerness 
and  apprehension.  ''Then,  will  you  kiss  me.'*"  she 
whispered,  so  low  as  hardly  to  be  heard,  looking  up  at 
him  and  smiling,  and  almost  crying  with  emotion. 

Boris  reddened.  "  How  absurd  you  are !  "  he  ex- 
claimed, but  he  bent  over  to  her,  reddening  still  more 
violently,  but  not  quite  able  to  make  up  his  mind 
whether  to  do  it  or  not. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  6i 

Natasha  suddenly  sprang  on  a  tub,  so  that  she  was 
taller  than  he,  threw  both  slender  bare  arms  around  his 
neck,  and  by  a  motion  of  her  head,  tossing  back  her 
curls,  kissed  him  full  in  the  lips.  Then  she  slipped 
away  between  the  flower-pots,  and  hanging  her  head, 
stood  still  on  the  other  side. 

''Natasha,"  said  he,  *'you  know  that  I  love  you, 
but...." 

*'  Are  you  in  love  with  me  ?  "  asked  Natasha,  interrupt- 
ing him. 

**  Yes,  I  am,  but  please  let  us  not  do  this  again 

In  four  years,  — then  I  will  ask  for  your  hand." 

Natasha  pondered. 

*'  Thirteen,  fourteen,  fifteen,  sixteen,"  said  she,  reck- 
oning on  her  delicate  fingers.  "  Good !  Then  it  is 
decided.''"  And  a  smile  of  joy  and  satisfaction  lighted 
up  her  animated  face. 

"Yes,  it  is  decided,"  said  Boris. 

"  Forever  and  ever,"  said  the  girl.  "  Till  death 
itself!"  And  taking  his  arm,  she  went  with  a  happy 
face  into  the  divan-room  with  him. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

The  countess  was  now  so  tired  of  receiving,  that  she 
gave  orders  not  to  admit  any  more  visitors,  and  the 
Swiss  was  told  to  invite  any  one  else  who  came,  to 
return  to  dinner. 

The  countess  was  anxious  to  have  a  confidential  talk 
with  the  friend  of  her  childhood,  the  Princess  Anna 
Mikhailovna,  whom  she  had  scarcely  seen  since  her 
return  from  Petersburg.  Anna  Mikhailovna,  with  her 
tearful  but  pleasant  face,  drew  her  chair  nearer  to  the 
countess. 

*'  I  will  be  perfectly  frank  with  you,"  said  she.  "We 
have  very  few  of  our  old  friends  left.  And  that's  why 
I  prize  your  friendship  so  highly !  " 

She  glanced  at  Viera,  and  paused. 

The   countess   pressed  her  hand ;   then  she  said,  ad* 


62  WAR    AND    PEACE 

dressing  her  eldest  daughter,  who  was  evidently  not  her 
favorite :  — 

"  Viera,  haven't  you  any  perception  at  all  ?  Cannot 
you  see  that  you  are  in  the  way  ?  Go  to  your  sisters, 
or...." 

The  handsome  Viera  smiled  scornfully,  evidently  not 
feeling  the  least  offended. 

"  If  you  had  only  told  me  sooner,  mamenka,  I  should 
have  gone  immediately,"  said  she,  and  she  left  the  room. 
But  as  she  was  going  past  the  divan-room,  she  saw  that 
two  couples  were  snugly  settled  in  the  embrasures  of 
the  two  windows.  She  paused  and  smiled  satirically. 
Sonya  was  sitting  close  by  Nikolai',  who  was  copying 
some  verses  in  her  honor,  —  the  first  he  had  ever  writ- 
ten. Bon's  and  Natasha  were  sitting  in  the  other 
window,  and  stopped  talking  as  Viera  passed.  Both  of 
the  girls  looked  up  at  her  with  guilty  and  yet  happy 
faces. 

It  was  both  amusing  and  touching  to  see  these  two 
girls,  so  head  over  ears  in  love,  but  the  sight  of  them 
evidently  did  not  rouse  pleasant  thoughts  in  Viera's 
mind. 

"  How  many  times  have  I  asked  you  not  to  take  my 
things,"  said  she;   ''you  have  your  own  room." 

And  she  snatched  the  inkstand  away  from  her 
brother. 

''Wait  a  minute,  wait  a  minute,"  said  he,  dipping  his 
pen. 

"  You  always  succeed  in  doing  things  at  just  the 
wrong  time,"  exclaimed  Viera.  "There  you  came  run- 
ning into  the  drawing-room,  so  that  every  one  was 
mortified  on  your  account." 

In  spite  of  the  fact,  or  perhaps  because  what  she  said 
was  perfectly  true,  no  one  made  her  any  reply,  and  all 
four  only  exchanged  glances  among  themselves.  Viera 
lingered  in  the  room,  holding  the  inkstand  in  her  hand. 

"  And  how  can  such  young  things  as  Natasha  and 
Bon's  and  you  two  have  'secrets,'  —  it's  all  nonsense!" 

"Well,  what  concern  is  it  of  yours,  Viera.'*"  asked 
Natasha,  in  a  gentle  voice,  defending  herself.     She  was 


WAR   AND    PEACE  63 

evidently  more  than  ordinarily  sweet,  and  well  disposed 
to  every  one  on  that  day. 

''It's  very  stupid,"  said  Viera ;  "I  blush  for  you. 
What  sort  of  *  secrets  ' ...." 

"  Every  one  has  his  own.  We  don't  meddle  with  you 
and  Berg,"  said*  Natasha,  hotly. 

*'  I  suppose  you  don't,"  said  Viera,  "  and  because  you 
can't  find  anything  improper  in  my  behavior.  But  I 
am  going  to  tell  mamenka  how  you  and  Boris  behave." 

"  Natalya  Ilymishna  behaves  very  well  to  me,"  said 
Boris  ;   "  I  cannot  complain  of  it." 

"Stop,  Boris,  you  are  such  a  diplomat," — the  word 
**  diplomat "  was  in  great  vogue  among  the  young 
people,  with  a  special  meaning  which  they  gave  to  it,  — 
"it's  very  annoying,"  said  Natasha,  in  an  offended, 
trembling  voice.  "Why  should  she  worry  me  so  .'^ 
You  will  never  understand  such  things,"  she  added, 
turning  to  Viera,  "  because  you  never  were  in  love  with 
any  one,  you  have  no  heart,  you  are  only  Madame  de 
Genlis," — this  was  a  nickname  considered  very  insult- 
ing, which  had  been  first  applied  to  Viera  by  Nikolai",  — 
*'  and  your  chief  pleasure  is  to  cause  other  people 
annoyance.  You  may  flirt  with  Berg  as  much  as  you 
please,"  she  said  spitefully. 

"Well,  at  all  events,  you  don't  find  me  running  after 
a  young  man  in  the  presence  of  visitors." 

"  There,  now,  you  have  done  what  you  wanted," 
interrupted  Nikolai',  "you  have  said  all  sorts  of  unpleas- 
ant things,  and  disturbed  us  all.  Let's  go  to  the 
nursery." 

All  four,  like  a  frightened  bevy  of  birds,  jumped  up 
and  flew  out  of  the  room. 

"  You  are  the  ones  who  have  been  saying  unpleasant 
things,  but  I  haven't  said  anything  to  any  one,"  cried 
Viera. 

"  Madame  de  Genlis  !  Madame  de  Genlis !  "  shouted 
the  merry  voices  from  the  other  room  through  the  open 
door. 

The  handsome  Viera,  who  found  a  sort  of  pleasure  in 
doing   thesv    unpleasant  and  irritating    things,  smiled. 


64  WAR    AND    PEACE 

evidently  undisturbed  by  what  was  said  of  her,  went  to 
the  mirror,  and  rearranged  her  sash  and  hair.  As  she 
caught  a  glimpse  of  her  pretty  face,  she  became,  to  all 
appearances,  cooler  and  more  self-satisfied. 

Meantime,  the  ladies  in  the  drawing-room  continued 
their  talk  :  — 

"Ah,  c/ih'e,''  said  the  countess,  *' in  my  life  it  is  not 
all  rose-color.  I  cannot  help  seeing  that  at  the  rate  we 
are  going,  our  property  will  not  hold  out  much  longer. 
And  then  his  club,  and  his  easy  ways.  Even  if  we  live 
in  the  country,  how  much  rest  do  we  get  .'*  Theatricals, 
huntins:,  and  heaven  knows  what  all.  But  what's  the 
use  of  my  talking  ! ....  Now  tell  me  how  you  manage  to 
get  along.  I  often  marvel  at  you,  Annette  ;  haw  it  is 
that  you,  at  your  time  of  life,  fly  about  so  in  year  car- 
riage, alone,  in  Moscow,  in  Petersburg,  to  all  the  min- 
isters, to  all  the  notables,  and  succeed  in  getting  around 
them  all,  I  marvel  at  it!  Now  tell  me  how  you  do  it. 
I  cannot  understand  it  at  all." 

"Ah!  my  dear  heart,"  replied  the  Princess  Anna 
Mikhai'lovna,  "  may  God  forbid  that  you  ever  learn  by 
experience  what  it  is  to  be  left  a  widow,  and  without 
any  protector,  with  a  son  whom  you  adore.  You  get 
schooled  to  everything,"  she  went  on  to  say,  with  some 
pride.  "  My  lawsuit  has  given  me  a  great  experience. 
If  I  need  to  see  any  '  bigwig,'  I  write  a  note :  '  Princess 
so  and  so  desires  to  see  such  and  such  a  person,'  and 
I  myself  go  in  a  hired  carriage,  twice,  three  times,  four 
times,  until  I  get  what  I  need.  It  is  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference to  me  what  they  think  of  me." 

"Well  now,  how  was  it,  — whom  did  you  apply  to  for 
Borenka,"  asked  the  countess.  "There  be  is  already 
an  officer  of  the  Guard,  and  my  Nikolushka  is  going 
merely  as  a  yunker.  There  was  no  one  to  work  for 
him.     Whom  did  you  ask  }  " 

"  Prince  Vasili.  He  was  very  kind.  He  immediately 
consented  to  do  all  in  his  power,  and  he  laid  the  mat- 
ter before  the  emperor,"  said  the  Princess  Anna  Mi- 
khai'lovna, entirely  forgetting,  in  her  enthusiasm,  all  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  65 

humiliation  through  which  she  had  passed  for  the 
attainment  of  her  ends. 

"  Prince  Vasi'li  must  have  aged  somewhat,  *  queried 
the  countess.  **  I  have  not  seen  him  since  our  theat- 
ricals at  the  Rumyantsofs'.  I  suppose  he  has  entirely 
forgotten  me.  He  was  very  assiduous  in  his  attention 
to  me,"  she  added,  with  a  smile. 

**  He  is  just  the  same  as  ever,"  replied  Anna  MikhaY- 
lovna,  "  polite  and  full  of  compliments.  His  head  hasn't 
been  turned  at  all  by  all  his  elevation.  '  I  am  grieved 
that  I  can  do  so  little  for  you,  my  dear  princess,'  said  he. 
*  You  have  only  to  command  me.'  Yes,  he's  a  splendid 
man,  and  a  lovely  relative  to  have.  But  you  know, 
Nathalie,  my  love  for  my  boy.  I  don't  know  what  I 
would  not  do  for  his  happiness.  But  my  means  are  so 
small  for  doing  anything,"  continued  the  princess,  in  a 
melancholy  tone,  lowering  her  voice.  **  They  are  so 
small  that  I  am  really  in  a  most  terrible  position.  My 
unlucky  la  A^suit  eats  up  all  that  I  have,  and  is  no  nearer 
an  end.  I  have  nothing,  you  can  imagine  it,  literally 
I  haven't  a  kopek,  and  I  don't  know  how  I  shall  get 
Bon's  his  uniform." 

She  drew  out  her  handkerchief  and  began  to  weep. 

*'  I  must  have  five  hundred  rubles,  and  all  I  have  is  a 
twenty-five  ruble  bill.  I  am  in  such  a  position  !  I  have 
only  one  hope  now,  —  in  Kirill  Vladimirovitch  Bezu- 
khoY.  If  he  will  not  help  out  his  godson  — for  you  see  he 
stood  sponsor  to  Boris — and  grant  him  something  for 
his  support,  then  all  m.y  pains  will  have  been  lost.  I 
shall  not  have  enough  to  pay  for  his  uniform." 

The  countess  shed  some  sympathetic  tears,  and  sat 
silently  pondering. 

"Maybe,  it's  a  sin,"  said  the  princess,  "but  I  often 
think:  There  is  Count  Kirill  BezukhoT,  living  alone.... 
that  enormous  fortune....  and,  why  does  he  live  on.? 
Life  is  a  burden  for  him,  while  Bon's  is  only  just  begin- 
ning to  live." 

"  He  will  probably  leave  something  to  Bon's,"  said 
the  countess. 

"God  only  knows,  Mre  antie!     These  rich  men  and 

VOL.  I.  — 5 


66  WAR   AND    PEACE 

grancL'cs  are  so  selfish !  But,  nevertheless,  I  am  going 
right  away  to  see  him  with  Bon's,  and  I  am  going  to  tell 
him  plainly  how  things  are.  Let  them  think  what  they 
please  of  me,  it  is  all  the  same  to  me,  when  my  son's 
fate  depends  upon  it."  The  princess  got  up.  "  It  is 
now  two  o'clock  and  you  dine  at  four.  I  shall  have 
plenty  of  time  to  go  there." 

And  with  the  decision  of  the  true  Petersburg  lady  of 
business,  who  knows  how  to  make  the  best  use  of  her  time, 
she  called  her  son  and  went  with  him  into  the  anteroom. 

*•  Good-by,  dear  heart,"  said  she  to  the  countess,  who 
accompanied  her  to  the  door.  "  Wish  me  good  luck," 
she  added  in  a  whisper,  so  that  her  son  might  not  hear. 

"  So  you  are  going  to  Count  Kirill  Vladimirovitch,  ma 
cherc  !  "  said  the  count,  coming  out  from  the  dining-room 
into  the  anteroom.  "•  If  he  is  better,  ask  Pierre  to  come 
and  dine  with  me.  You  see  he  used  to  be  here  a  great 
deal,  and  danced  with  the  children.  Be  sure  to  bring 
him,  ma  chh'e  !  Now  we  shall  see  how  splendidly  Taras 
will  do  by  us  to-day.  He  declares  that  Count  Orlof 
never  had  such  a  dinner  as  we  are  going  to  have  ! " 


CHAPTER   XIV 

"  My  dear  Bon's,"  said  the  Princess  Anna  Mikha'flovna 
to  her  son,  as  the  Countess  Rostova's  carriage,  in  which 
they  were  riding,  rolled  along  the  straw-covered  street 
and  entered  the  wide  court  of  Count  Kirill  Vladimirovitch 
Bezukhoi's  residence.  "My  dear  Boris,"  said,  the 
mother,  stretching  out  her  hand  from  under  her  old 
mantle  and  laying  it  on  her  son's  with  a  timid  and 
affectionate  gesture,  "be  amiable  and  considerate. 
Count  Kirill  Vladimirovitch  is  your  godfather,  and  your 
prospects  depend  upon  him.  Remember  this,  my  dear; 
be  nice  as  you  can  be." 

"  If  I  knew  that  anything  would  come  from  this  ex- 
cept humiliation,"  replied  the  son,  coldly.  "  But  I  have 
given  you  my  promise,  and  I  do  it  for  your  sake." 

Though  it  was  a  respectable  carriage  which  drove  up 


WAR    AND    PEACE  67 

to  the  steps,  the  Swiss,  noticing  the  lady's  well-worn 
mantle,  looked  askance  at  mother  and  son  (who  without 
sending  the  footman  to  announce  them  had  walked 
straight  into  the  mirror-lined  vestibule,  between  two  rows 
of  statues  standing  in  niches)  and  asked  them  whom  they 
wished  to  see,  the  young  princesses  or  the  count ;  and 
when  they  said  the  count,  he  told  them  that  his  excel- 
lency was  worse  and  could  not  receive  any  one  to-day. 

'*  Then  let  us  go,"  said  the  son,  in  French. 

''  My  love !  "  exclaimed  the  mother,  in  a  supplicating 
voice,  again  laying  her  hand  on  his  arm,  as  if  her  touch 
had  the  effect  of  calming  or  encouraging  him.  Boris 
said  no  more,  but  without  removing  his  cloak  looked 
dubiously  at  his  mother. 

"  My  dear,"  ^  said  the  princess,  in  a  wheedling  tone, 
turning  to  the  Swiss,  "  I  know  that  the  Count  Kirill 
Vladimirovitch  is  very  ill ....  that's  why  I  came.  I  am 
a  relative  of  his.  I  do  not  wish  to  disturb  him,  my  dear 
.■...I  only  wanted  to  see  Prince  Vasili  Sergeyevitch ;  I 
understand  that  he  is  here.  Be  so  good  as  to  announce 
us." 

The  Swiss  gave  a  hard  pull  at  the  bell-cord  and  turned 
away. 

"  Princess  Drubetskayafor  Prince  Vasili  Sergeyevitch," 
he  called  to  the  footman  in  small-clothes,  pumps,  and 
dress  coat,  who  ran  to  the  head  of  the  stairs  and  looked 
over  from  above. 

The  princess  straightened  the  folds  of  her  dyed  silk 
dress,  glanced  at  the  massive  Venetian  mirror  on  the 
wall,  and  firmly  mounted  the  carpeted  staircase  in  her 
old  worn  shoes. 

**  My  dear,  you  have  given  me  your  promise ! "  said  she, 
turning  round  to  her  son  and  encouraging  him  with  a 
touch  of  her  hand.  The  young  man,  dropping  his  eyes, 
silently  followed  her. 

They  went  into  a  hall  which  led  into  the  suite  of  rooms 
occupied  by  Prince  Vasili.  Just  as  the  mother  and  son 
started  to  walk  through  this  room,  and  were  about  to  ask 
the  way  of  an  elderly  footman,  who  on*  their  approach 

^  In  the  original  she  calls  him  the  pet  HAiaQ^o/tlidcAik. 


68  WAR   AND    PEACE 

had  sprung  to  his  feet,  the  bronze  door-knob  of  one  of  the 
heavy  doors  turned,  and  Prince  Vasili  himself,  dressed 
in  a  velvet  shubka  v^^ith  a  single  star,  as  if  he  were  at 
home,  came  in,  escorting  a  handsome,  black-bearded 
man.  This  man  was  the  celebrated  Petersburg  Doctor 
Lorrain. 

"  So  then  it  is  certain  ? "  the  prince  was  saying. 

''Prince,  '  er  rare  hummmm  est'  ;  but...."  replied  the 
doctor,  who  swallowed  his  r's  and  spoke  the  Latin 
words,  "To  err  is  human,"  with  a  strong  French  accent. 

"  Very  good,  very  good  ....  " 

Perceiving  Anna  Mikhailovna  and  her  son,  Prince 
Vasili  dismissed  the  doctor  with  a  bow,  and  advanced 
in  silence  and  with  an  inquiring  look  toward  them.  The 
son  noticed  that  his  mother's  eyes  suddenly  took  on  an 
expression  of  deep  concern  and  grief,  and  he  smiled  a 
little. 

"  Under    what    melancholy    circumstances   we    meet 

agairi,  prince Well,  how  is  our  dear  invalid.?"  said 

she,  pretending  not  to  notice  the  cold,  insulting  glance 
he  gave  her.  Prince  Vasili,  as  if  he  were  surprised  to  see 
them  there,  looked  questioningly  at  her  and  then  at  Boris. 

Bon's  bowed  civilly.  Prince  Vasili,  entirely  ignoring 
it,  replied  to  Anna  Mikhailovna's  question  by  a  signifi- 
cant motion  of  his  head  and  lips,  giving  her  to  under- 
stand that  there  was  very  slim  hope  for  the  sick  man. 

"Is    it  possible.?"  cried  Anna  Mikhailovna.     "Ah! 

this    is    terrible!     Fearful   to    think This    is    my 

son,"  she  added,  indicating  Boris.  "  He  was  anxious 
to  thank  you  in  person." 

Bon's  again  bowed  politely. 

"  Be  assured,  prince,  that  a  mother's  heart  will  never 
forget  what  you  have  done  for  us." 

"  I  am  glad  if  I  have  been  able  to  be  of  service  to 
you,  my  dear  Anna  Mikhailovna,"  said  Prince  Vasili, 
adjusting  his  frill,  and  manifesting  both  in  tone  and. 
manner,  here  in  Moscow  before  Anna  ^likhailovna, 
whom  he  had  put  under  deep  obligation,  a  far  more  con- 
sequential air  tTian  at  Petersburg  at  Annette  Scherer's 
reception. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  Sg 

"  Do  your  best  to  serve  with  credit  and  prove  your- 
self deserving,"   he  added,  turning  to   Bon's.     ''I   am 

glad Are  you  here  on  leave  of  absence  ?  "  he  asked, 

in  his  coldest  tone. 

*'  I  am  waiting  for  orders,  your  excellency,  before 
setting  out  for  my  new  position,"  replied  Boris,  mani- 
festing not  the  slightest  resentment  of  the  prince's 
peremptory  manner,  nor  any  inclination  to  pursue  the 
conversation,  but  bearing  himself  with  such  dignity 
and  deference  that  the  prince  gave  him  a  scrutinizing 
glance. 

•*  Do  you  live  with  your  mother .?  " 
''  I  live  at  the  Countess  Rostova's,"  said  Boris,  again 
taking  pains  to  add,  "your  excellency." 

*'  It  is  that  Ilya  Rostof,  who  married  Nathalie  Shin- 
shina,"  said  Anna  Mikhailovna. 

'•I  know,  I  know,"  returned  Prince  VasiH,  in  his 
monotonous  voice.  **  I  never  could  understand  how 
Nathalie  made  up  her  mind  to  marry  that  unlicked 
bear.  A  perfectly  stupid  and  absurd  creature,  and  a 
gambler  besides,  they  say." 

"But  an  excellent  man,  prince,"  remarked  Anna  Mi^ 
khai'lovna,  smiling  with  a  touching  smile,  as  if  she,  too, 
knew  very  well  that  Count  Rostof  deserved  such  an 
opinion  of  him,  but  did  her  best  to  say  a  good  word  for 
the  poor  old  man. 

"What  do  the  doctors  say?"  asked  the  princess,  after 
a  short  silence,  and  again  allowing  an  expression  of 
deep  grief  to  settle  upon  her  careworn  face. 
"Very  little  hope,"  said  the  prince. 
"  I  wanted  so  much  to  thank  my  tincle  once  more, 
for  all  his  kindnesses  to  me  and  Boris  —  he's  his  god- 
son," she  added  in  French,  in  such  a  tone  as  if  this 
piece  of  information  must  be  highly  delightful  to  the 
prince. 

Prince  Vasili  sat  pondering  and  knitting  his  brows. 
Anna  MikhaYlovna  realized  that  he  was  apprehensive 
lest  she  were  a  rival  for  the  count's  inheritance.  She 
hastened  to  reassure  him. 

"  If  it  were  not  for  my  true  love  and  devotion  to  my 


70  WAR   AND    PEACE 

uncle,''  said  she,  uttering  the  words  viy  uncle  with  re- 
markable effrontery  and  unconcern  —  **  I  know  his  noble, 
straightforward  character ;  but  you  see,  he  has  only  the 
young  princesses  with  him :  they  are  both  so  inex- 
perienced." She  inclined  her  head  and  added,  in  a 
whisper :  *'  Has  he  .yet  fulfilled  the  last  duty,  prince  ? 
How  precious  are  these  last  moments  !  Things  couldn't 
be  worse,  he  should  be  prepared  at  once,  if  he  is  so  ill. 
We  women,  prince,"  she  smiled  with  self-importance, 
**  always  understand  how  to  put  these  things.  It's  indis- 
pensable that  I  should  see  him,  however  hard  it  may  be 
for  me ;  but  then,  I  am  accustomed  to  sorrow." 

The  prince  evidently  knew  only  too  well,  just  as  he 
had  known  at  Annette  Scherer's,  that  he  would  have  no 
little  difficulty  in  getting  rid  of  Anna  Mikhailovna. 

**  This  interview  might  be  very  injurious  for  him,  my 
dear  Anna  Mikhailovna;  better  wait  till  evening;  the 
doctors  have  been  expecting  a  crisis." 

"  But  it  is  impossible  to  wait,  prince,  at  such  mo- 
ments. Just  think,  it  concerns  his  soul's  safety.  Ah, 
it  is  terrible,  the  duties  of  a  Christian." 

A  door  opened,  and  from  an  inner  chamber  appeared 
one  of  the  count's  nieces,  a  young  lady  with  a  sour,  cold 
face,  and  with  a  waist  disproportionately  long  for  her 
stature. 

Prince  Vasili  went  toward  her. 

"Well,  how  is  he.?" 

"Just  about  the  same;  but  what  could  you  expect  — 
this  noise,"  said  the  princess,  staring  at  Anna  MikhaY- 
lovna  as  if  she  were  a  stranger. 

"Ah,  my  dear,  I  did  not  recognize  you,"  exclaimed 
Anna  Mikhailovna,  with  a  beaming  smile  and  ambling 
lightly  forward  toward  the  count's  niece.  "  I  have  just 
come,  and  I  am  at  your  service  to  help  you  take  care  of 
7?iy  nncle.  I  can  imagine  how  much  you  have  suffered," 
she  added,  still  in  French,  and  sympathetically  turning 
up  her  eyes. 

The  count's  niece  made  no  reply,  nor  did  she  even 
smile,  but  immediately  left  the  room.  Anna  Mikhai- 
lovna took  off  her  gloves  and  established  herself  in  an 


WAR  AND   PEACE  71 

arm-chair  in  a  victorious  attitude,  and  motioned  to  the 
prince  to  sit  down  near  her. 

"  Boris,"  said  she  to  her  son,  and  with  a  smile,  "  I  am 
going  to  see  the  count,  my  uncle ;  in  the  meantime,  mon 
ami,  you  go  and  find  Pierre,  and  don't  forget  to  give 
him  the  invitation  from  the  Rostofs.  They  ask  him  to 
dinner.  I  think  very  likely  he  may  not  wish  to  come," 
she  suggested,  turning  to  the  prince. 

**  On  the  contrary,"  returned  the  prince,  evidently 
very  much  annoyed,  "J  should  be  very  glad  to  have 
him  taken  off  my  hands.  He  is  staying  here.  The 
count  has  not  asked  for  him  once." 

He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  A  footman  conducted 
the  young  man  down-stairs  and  then  up,  by  another 
flight,  to  Piotr  Kirillovitch's  quarters. 


CHAPTER   XV 

Pierre  had  not  succeeded  in  choosing  a  career  for 
himself  in  Petersburg  when  he  was  sent  to  Moscow  on 
account  of  his  disorderly  conduct.  The  story  that  had 
been  related  at  Count  Rostofs  was  correct :  Pierre  had 
been  one  of  the  young  men  who  had  tied  the  policeman 
on  the  bear's  back. 

He  had  arrived  in  Moscow  a  few  days  previous,  and 
taken  up  his  abode  as  usual  in  his  father's  house. 
Although  he  foresaw  that  the  story  would  be  noised 
abroad  in  Moscow,  and  that  the  ladies  who  formed  his 
father's  household  and  who  were  always  hostile  to  him, 
would  take  advantage  of  this  occurrence  to  irritate  the 
count  against  him,  nevertheless,  on  the  very  day  of  his 
arrival,  he  started  to  go  to  his  father's  apartments. 

As  he  went  into  the  drawing-room,  where  the  prin- 
cesses usually  sat,  he  stopped  to  pay  his  respects  to  the 
Jadies,  who  were  there  busy  with  their  embroidery-frames 
and  in  listening  to  a  book  which  one  of  them  was  read- 
ing aloud. 

There  were  three  of  them.     The  oldest,  a  severely 


72  WAR   AND    PEACE 

prim  old  maid  with  a  long  waist, — the  very  one  who 
had  made  the  descent  upon  Anna  MikhaYlovna,  —  was 
the  reader;  the  younger  ones,  both  rosy-cheeked  and 
rather  pretty,  and  exactly  alike,  except  that  one  of  them 
had  a  little  mole  on  her  lip,  decidedly  adding  to  her 
beauty,  were  engaged   with  embroidery-frames. 

Pierre  was  received  like  a  ghost  or  a  leper.  The 
oldest  princess  ceased  reading  and  silently  looked  at 
him  with  eyes  expressive  of  alarm.  The  one  without 
the  mole  did  the  same.  The  third,  who  had  the  mole 
and  some  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  bent  over  the  em- 
broidery to  conceal  a  smile,  caused  by  what  she  thought 
promised  to  be  an  amusing  scene.  She  drew  the  thread 
down  and  bent  over,  as  if  studying  the  pattern,  but 
could  hardly  keep  from  laughing. 

'*  Good-morning,  cousin,"  said  Pierre,  "don't  you  know 
who  I  am  ?  " 

"  I  know  you  very  well,  altogether  too  well." 

"  How  is  the  count  ?  May  I  see  him  ?  "  asked  Pierre, 
awkwardly  as  usual,  but  still  not  disconcerted. 

"  The  count  is  suffering,  both  in  body  and  in  spirit, 
and  it  seems  you  have  taken  pains  to  cause  him  the 
greater  part  of  his  moral  suffering." 

*'  May  I  see  the  count  ? "  repeated  Pierre. 

"  Hm  !  If  you  desire  to  kill  him,  to  kill  him  out  and 
out,  then  you  may  see  him.  Olga,  go  and  see  if  the 
bouillon  is  ready  for  dear  uncle,  it  is  high  time,"  she 
added,  making  Pierre  see  by  this  that  they  were  wholly 
absorbed  in  caring  for  his  father,  while  he,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  palpably  bent  on  annoying  him. 

Olga  left  the  room.  Pierre  stood  still,  looking  at  the 
sisters,  and  then  said  with  a  bow  :  — 

"Well,  I  will  go  back  to  my  room.  As  soon  as  it 
is  possible,  you  will  please  tell  me." 

He  went  out,  and  behind  his  back  was  heard  the 
clear  but  subdued  laughter  of  the  sister  that  had  the 
mole. 

On  the  next  day  Prince  Vasili  had  come  and  put  up 
at  the  count's.     He  called  Pierre  to  him,  and  said  :  — 

"  My  dear  fellow,  if  you  carry  on  here  as  you  have 


WAR   AND    PEACE  7J 

at  Petersburg,  you  will  come  out  very  badly ;  that's 
all  I  have  to  say  to  you.  The  count  is  very,  very  ill ; 
it  is  imperative  that  you  should  not  see  him." 

From  that  time  Pierre  had  been  left  severely  alone, 
and  spent  his  days  in  solitude,  up-stairs  in  his  own 
rooms. 

When  Eon's  appeared  at  the  door,  Pierre  was  walking 
up  and  down  his  room,  occasionally  pausing  in  the  cor- 
uers  and  making  threatening  gestures  at  the  walls,  as 
if  trying  to  thrust  his  sword  through  some  unknown 
enemy,  and  looking  savagely  over  his  spectacles  and 
then  again  beginning  his  restless  walking,  muttering 
indistinct  words,  shrugging  his  shoulders,  and  spreading 
out  his  hands. 

''  England  has  outlived  its  glory,"  he  was  declaiming, 
with  a  frown,  and  pointing  at  some  imaginary  person 
with  his  finger.  ''  Pitt,  as  a  traitor  to  the  nation  and 
to  the  law  of  nations,  is  condemned  to...." 

He  was  imagining  that  he  was  at  that  instant  Napo- 
leon himself,  and  he  pictured  how  his  hero  would  make 
the  perilous  passage  across  from  Calais,  and  take  Lon- 
don by  storm,  but  he  had  not  completed  his  denuncia- 
tion of  Pitt  when  he  caught  sight  of  a  handsome,  well- 
built  young  officer  coming  toward  him. 

He  stopped  short. 

Boris  was  a  lad  of  fourteen  when  he  had  last  seen 
him,  and  he  did  not  recognize  him  at  all;  but,  never- 
theless, he  seized  him  by  the  hand  in  his  impulsive, 
cordial  way,  and  smiled  affectionately. 

"  Do  you  remember  me  .'*  "  asked  Boris,  calmly,  with 
a  pleasant  smile.  "  I  came  with  my  mother  to  see  the 
count,  but  it  seems  he  is  very  ill." 

"  Yes,  he  is  very  ill.  They  keep  him  stirred  up  all 
the  time,"  returned  Pierre,  striving  to  recollect  who  this 
young  man  was. 

Boris  was  certain  that  Pierre  did  not  recognize  him, 
but  he  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  tell  his  name,  and 
without  manifesting  the  slightest  awkwardness  he 
looked  him  full  in  the  face. 

•"  <3ount  Rostof  invites  you  to  dine  with  him  this  after- 


74  WAR   AND    PEACE 

noon,"  said  he,  after  a  rather  long  silence  which  made 
Pierre  feel  uncomfortable. 

**Ah!  Count  Rostof,"  exclaimed  Pierre,  joyfully. 
•*  Then  you  are  his  son  Ilya.  At  the  first  instant  I  did 
not  recognize  you,  as  you  can  easily  imagine.  Do  you 
remember  how  you  and  I  and  Madame  Jaquot  used  to 
go  out  walking  on  the  Sparrow  Hills  —  years  ago  .-^  " 

"  You  are  mistaken,"  said  Bon's,  deliberately,  and  with 
a  bold  and  rather  derisive  smile ;  "  I  am  Boris,  the  son 
of  the  Princess  Anna  Mikhai'lovna  Drubetskaya.  Ros- 
tof s  father  is  named  Ilya,  and  his  name  is  Nikolai'. 
And  I  never  knew  Madame  Jaquot." 

Pierre  made  a  gesture  with  his  hands  and  head,  as  if 
mosquitoes  or  bees  were  attacking  him. 

''Ah!  is  that  so  indeed.-*  I  have  mixed  everything 
all  up.  I  have  so  many  relatives  in  Moscow  !  So  you 
are  Bon's  —  yes.  Well,  you  and  I  seem  to  have  beguri 
with  a  misunderstanding.  Well,  what  do  you  think  oi 
the  Boulogne  expedition.'*  It  will  go  pretty  hard  with 
the  EngUsh  if  only  Napoleon  crosses  the  Channel,  won't 
it  ?  I  think  the  expedition  is  very  feasible !  If  only 
Villeneuve  does  n't  fail  him." 

Boris  knew  nothing  about  the  Boulogne  expedition ; 
he  had  not  read  the  newspapers,  and  this  was  the  first 
time  he  had  ever  heard  of  Villeneuve. 

*' We  here  in  Moscow  are  more  taken  up  with  dinners 
and  gossip  than  with  politics,"  said  he,  in  his  calm,  sa- 
tirical tone.  "  I  know  nothing  about  such  things,  and  I 
don't  think  about  them.  Moscow  is  given  over  to  tittle- 
tattle  more  than  anything  else,"  he  went  on  to  say. 
"  Now  you  and  the  count  are  the  talk." 

Pierre  smiled  his  good-natured  smile,  as  if  fearing  lest 
his  companion  might  say  something  that  he  would  re- 
gret. But  Bon's  spoke  with  due  circumspection,  clearly 
and  dryly,  looking  straight  into  Pierre's  eyes. 

"  Moscow  likes  to  do  nothing  better  than  talk  gossip," 
he  repeated.  "All  are  solicitous  about  knowing  to 
whom  the  count  is  going  to  leave  his  property ;  and 
yet,  very  possibly,  he  will  outlive  all  of  us.  I  hope  so 
with  all  my  heart."  .... 


WAR   AND    PEACE  75 

"  V^es,  this  is  all  very  trying,"  interrupted  Pierre, — 
•'very  trying." 

Pierre  all  the  time  was  apprehensive  lest  this  young 
officer  should  unexpectedly  turn  the  conversation  into 
some  awkward  channel. 

"  But  it  must  seem  to  you,"  said  Bon's,  flushing 
slightly,  but  not  allowing  his  voice  or  his  manner  to 
vary,  —  "it  must  seem  to  you  that  all  take  an  interest 
in  this  simply  because  they  hope  to  get  something  from 
the  estate." 

"  Here  it  comes,"  thought  Pierre. 

'*  I  expressly  wish  to  tell  you,  lest  any  misunderstand- 
ing should  arise,  that  you  are  entirely  mistaken  if  you 
consider  me  and  my  mother  in  the  number  of  these 
people.  We  are  very  poor,  but  I  at  least  say  this  on 
my  own  account  for  the  very  reason  that  your  father  is 
rich,  that  I  do  not  consider  myself  a  relative  of  his,  and 
neither  I  nor  my  mother  would  ask  or  even  be  willing 
to  receive  anything  from  him." 

Pierre  for  some  time  failed  to  comprehend,  but  when 
the  idea  dawned  upon  him,  he  leaped  from  the  divan, 
seized  Bon's  under  the  arm  with  characteristic  impetu- 
osity and  clumsiness,  and  while  he  grew  even  redder 
than  the  other,  he  began  to  speak  with  a  mixed  feeling 
of  vexation  and  shame  :  — 

*'  Now,  this  is  strange  !  I  then  ....  indeed  and  who 
would  have  ever  thought....  I  know  very  well...." 

But  Boris  again  interrupted  him. 

"  I  am  glad  that  I  have  told  you  all.  Perhaps  it  was 
disagreeable  to  you;  you  will  pardon  me,"  said  he, 
soothing  Pierre  instead  of  letting  himself  be  soothed  by 
him.  "I  hope  that  I  have  not  offended  you.  It  is  a 
principle  with  me  to  speak  right  to  the  point.  What 
answer  am  I  to  give }  Will  you  come  to  dinner  at  the 
Rostofs'.?" 

And  Bon's,  having  acquitted  himself  of  a  difficult  ex- 
planation, and  got  himself  out  of  an  awkward  position 
by  putting  another  into  it,  again  became  perfectly 
agreeable.  .  . 

"  Now,  look  here,  listen,"  said  Pierre,  calming  dowa 


76  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  You  are  a  remarkable  man.  What  you  have  just  said 
is  very  good,  very  good.  Of  course  you  don't  know 
me.     We  have  not  met  for  a  long  time....  not  since  we 

were  children You  might  have  had  all  sorts  of  ideas 

about  me.  I  understand  you,  understand  you  perfectly. 
I  should  not  have  done  such  a  thing,  I  should  not  have 
had  the  courage,  but  it  is  excellent.  I  am  very  glad  to 
have  made  your  acquaintance.  Strange,"  he  added, 
after  a  short  silence  and  smiling,  —  ''strange  that  you 
should  have  had  such  an  idea  of  me."  He  laughed. 
"Well,  who  knows  .^  We  shall  get  better  acquainted, 
I  beg  of  you." 

He  pressed  Boris's  hand. 

"  Do  you  know,  I  have  not  seen  the  count  yet  ?  He 
has  not  sent  for  me.  It  is  trying  to  me  as  a  man ....  but 
what  can  I  do  about  it  .-^  " 

"And  do  you  think  that  Napoleon  will  succeed  in 
getting  his  army  across.?"  asked  Bon's,  with  a  smile. 

Pierre  understood  that  Boris  wanted  to  change  the 
conversation,  and  taking  his  cue  he  began  to  expound 
the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  Boulogne 
expedition. 

A  footman  came  to  summon  Boris  to  his  mother. 
The  princess  was  ready  to  start.  Pierre  promised  to 
come  and  dine  with  the  Rostofs  so  as  to  get  better 
acquainted  with  Boris,  and  he  warmly  pressed  his  hand, 
looking  through  his  spectacles  straight  into  his  eyes. 

After  he  had  gone,  Pierre  still  paced  for  a  long  time 
up  and  down  the  room,  no  longer  threatening  an  invisi- 
ble enemy  with  the  sword,  but  smiling  at  the  thought 
of  this  intelligent,  clever,  and  decided  young  man.  As 
often  happens  in  early  youth,  and  especially  when  one 
is  lonely,  he  felt  an  inexplicable  affection  for  the  young 
man,  and  promised  himself  that  ttiey  would  become 
good  friends. 

Prince  Vasili  escorted  the  princess  to  the  door.  The 
good  lady  held  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes,  and  there 
were  tears  on  her  cheeks. 

"  This  is  terrible,  terrible  ! '!  she  exclaimed.  "  But,  so 
^-^r  as  in  m^  xay,  I  fulfilled  my  duty.     I  will  come  back 


WAR   AND    PEACE  77 

and  spend  the  night.  It  is  impossible  to  leave  him 
in  such  a  state.  Every  moment  is  precious.  I  cannot 
understand  why  the  princesses  have  delayed  about  it. 
Perhaps  God  will  enable  me  to  find  some  means  of 
preparing  him.  Adieu,  prince,  may  the  good  God  sus- 
tain you." 

"  Adieu,  my  friend,"  replied  Prince  Vasili,  as  he  turned 
away  from  her. 

**  Ah,  he  is  in  a  frightful  state,"  said  the  mother  to 
her  son,  after  they  had  again  taken  their  seats  in  the 
carriage.     *'  He  scarcely  knows  any  one." 

''  I  cannot  understand,  mamenka,  what  his  relations 
are  to  Pierre  ;  can  you  }  "  asked  the  son. 

"  Everything  will  be  made  clear  by  his  will,  my  dear; 
our  fate  also  depends  upon  that."  .... 

"Why  do  you  think  he  is  going  to  leave  us  any- 
thing ?  " 

"  Ah !  my  dear,  he  is  so  rich  and  we  are  so  poor." 

"  Well,  that  is  a  most  inconclusive  reason,  mamenka." 

"  Ah,  my  God,  my  God,  how  ill  he  is !  "  exclaimed  the 
mother. 

CHAPTER   XVI 

After  Anna  Mikhailovna  and  her  son  had  gone  to 
Count  Bezukhoi's,  the  Countess  Rostova  sat  for  some 
time  alone,  applying  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes.  At 
last  she  rang  the  bell. 

*'  What  is  the  matter  with  you,  my  dear .?  "  she  de- 
manded severely  of  the  maid,  who  had  kept  her  waiting 
several  minutes.  ''  Don't  you  care  to  serve  me .''  If 
not,  I  can  find  another  place  for  you." 

The  countess  was  greatly  affected  by  her  old  friend's 
grief  and  humiliation,  and  therefore  she  was  out  of 
sorts,  as  could  be  told  by  her  speaking  to  the  maid  by 
the  formal  v?ti,  *'you,"  and  the  appellation  miliya,  "dear." 

"  Beg  pardon,"  said  the  maid. 

"Ask  the  count  to  come  to  me." 

The  count  came  waddling  to  his  wife  with  a  rather 
guilty  look,  as  usual. 


78  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"Well,  little  countess,^  what  a  saiUe  an  madh'e  of 
woodcock  we  are  going  to  have,  my  love.  I  have  been 
trying  it.  Taras  is  well  worth  the  thousand  rubles 
that  I  gave  for  him.     It  was  well  spent." 

He  took  a  seat  near  his  wife,  with  an  affectation  of 
bravery,  leaning  one  hand  on  his  knee,  and  with  the 
other  rumpling  up  his  gray  hair :  ''  What  do  you  wish, 
little  countess } " 

"  See  there,  my  love ;  how  did  you  get  that  spot  on 
you  }  "  said  she,  pointing  to  his  waistcoat.  **  It  is  evi- 
dently some  of  your  saute,''  she  added,  with  a  smile. 
"See  here,  count,  I  need  some  money." 

His  face  grew  mournful. 

"Ah,  little  countess!".... 

And  the  count  made  a  great-  ado  in  getting  out  his 
pocket-book. 

"  I  want  a  good  deal,  count ;  I  want  five  hundred 
rubles."  And  she  took  her  cambric  handkerchief  and 
began  to  rub  her  husband's  waistcoat. 

"You  shall  have  it  at  once.  Hey,  there  !  "  cried  the 
count,  in  a  tone  used  only  by  men  who  are  certain  that 
those  whom  they  command  will  rush  headlong  at  their 
call.     "  Send  Mitenka  to  me  !  " 

Mitenka,  the  nobleman's  son  whom  the  count  had 
brought  up  and  had  now  put  in  charge  of  all  his  affairs, 
came  with  soft  noiseless  steps  into  the  room. 

"  See  here,  my  dear,"  said  the  count  to  the  deferential 
young  man  as  he  entered  the  door,  "bring  me," — he 
hesitated,  —  "  yes,  bring  me  seven  hundred  rubles,  yes. 
And  see  here,  don't  bring  such  torn  and  filthy  ones  as 
you  do  sometimes,  but  clean  ones ;  they  are  for  the 
countess." 

"  Yes,  Mitenka,  please  see  that  they  are  clean,"  said 
the  countess,  sighing  deeply. 

"  Your  excellency,  when  do  you  wish  them } "  a.sked 
Mitenka;  "you  will  deign  to  know  that ....  however, 
don't  allow  yourself  to  be  uneasy,"  he  added,  perceiving 
that  the  count  was  already  beginning  to  breathe  heavily 
and  rapidly,  which  was  always  a  sign  of  a  burst  of  rage. 

1  Graphinyushka, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  79 

—  "I  had  forgotten.  Will  you  please  to  have  them  this 
instant  ? " 

*'Yes,  yes,  instantly;  bring  them.  Give  them  to  the 
countess." 

"  What  a  treasure  that  Mitenka  is !  "  he  added  with  a 
smile,  as  the  young  man  left  the  room.  **  He  never 
finds  anything  impossible.  That  is  a  thing  I  cannot 
endure.     All  things  are  possible." 

"Ah!  money,  count,  money;  how  much  sorrow  it 
causes  in  the  world !  "  exclaimed  the  countess.  "  But 
this  money  is  very  important  for  me." 

"  Little  countess,  you  are  a  terrible  spendthrift,"  de- 
clared the  count,  and  kissing  his  wife's  hand  he  disap- 
peared again  into  his  own  apartment. 

When  Anna  Mikhailovna  returned  from  her  visit  to 
Bezukhoi',  the  money,  all  in  new  clean  bank-notes,  was 
lying  on  a  stand  under  a  handkerchief  in  the  countess's 
room.  Anna  Mikhailovna  noticed  that  the  countess  was 
excited  over  something. 

"  Well,  my  dear  .''  "  asked  the  countess. 

"  Ah  !  he  's  in  a  tf^rrible  state  !  you  would  never  know 
him,  he  is  so  ill,  so  ill !  I  stayed  only  a  short  minute 
and  didn't  say  two  words."  .... 

"Annette,  for  heaven's  sake  don't  refuse  me,"  sud- 
denly exclaimed  the  countess,  taking  out  the  money  from 
under  the  handkerchief,  while  her  old,  thin,  grave  face 
flushed  in  a  way  that  was  strange  to  see. 

Anna  Mikhailovna  instantly  understood  what  she 
meant,  and  was  already  bending  over  so  as  to  embrace 
the  countess  gracefully  at  the  right  moment. 

"  It  is  from  me  to  Bon's,  for  his  outfit." 

Anna  Mikhailovna  interrupted  her  by  throwing  her 
arms  around  her  and  bursting  into  tears.  The  countess 
wept  with  her.  They  wept  because  they  were  friends 
and  because  they  were  kind-hearted,  and  because,  having 
been  friends  from  childhood,  they  were  now  occupied 
with  such  a  sordid  matter  as  money,  and  because  theii 
youth  had  passed. 

But  theirs  were  pleasant  tears. 


8o  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER  XVII 


The  Countess  Rostova,  with  her  daughters  and  a  large 
number  of  guests,  was  sitting  in  the  drawing-room. 
The  count  had  taken  the  men  into  his  cabinet  and  was 
showing  them  his  favorite  collection  of  Turkish  pipes. 
Occasionally,  he  would  go  out  and  ask :  "  Has  n't  she 
come  yet  ?  " 

They  were  waiting  for  Marya  Dmitrievna  Akhrosi- 
mova,  called  in  society  /e  terrible  dragon :  a  lady  who 
was  distinguished  not  for  her  wealth  or  her  titles,  but 
for  the  honesty  of  her  character,  and  her  frank,  simple 
ways.  The  imperial  family  knew  her,  all  Moscow 
knew  her,  and  all  Petersburg,  and  both  cities,  while  they 
laughed  at  her  brusque  manners  on  the  sly  and  related 
anecdotes  of  her,  nevertheless,  without  exception,  re- 
spected and  feared  her. 

The  conversation  in  the  cabinet,  which  was  full  of 
smoke,  turned  on  the  war  which  had  just  been  declared 
through  a  manifesto  and  on  the  recruiting.  No  one  had, 
as  yet,  read  the  manifesto,  but  all  were  aware  that  it  had 
appeared. 

The  count  was  sitting  on  a  low  ottoman,  between  two 
of  his  friends,  who  were  talking  and  smoking.  He, 
himself,  was  not  smoking  or  talking,  but  with  his  head 
bent  now  to  one  side,  now  to  the  other,  he  was  looking 
with  manifest  satisfaction  at  those  who  did,  and  was 
listening  to  the  conversation  of  his  two  friends,  whom  he 
had  already  set  by  the  ears. 

One  of  the  men  was  a  civilian,  with  a  wrinkled,  sal- 
low, lean  face  cleanly  shaven ;  though  he  was  approach- 
ing old  age,  he  was  dressed  in  the  height  of  style,  like 
a  young  man  ;  he  was  sitting  with  his  feet  on  the  otto- 
man, like  a  man  thoroughly  at  home,  and,  holding  the 
amber  mouthpiece  at  one  side  of  his  mouth,  was  sucking 
strenuously  at  the  smoke,  and  frowning  over  the  effort. 
This  was  the  old  bachelor,  Shinshin,  the  countess's  own 
cousin,  a  "venomous  tongue,"  as  it  was  said  of  him  in 
Moscow  drawing-rooms.  He  seemed  to  be  condescend* 
ing  to  his  opponentJ    ^j     '    V 


WAR   AND    PEACE  8i 

The  other,  a  fresh,  ruddy  young  officer  of  the  Guard, 
irreproachably  belted,  buttoned,  and  barbered,  held  the 
mouthpiece  in  the  middle  of  his  mouth,  and  gently 
sucked  the  smoke  through  his  rosy  lips,  sending  it  out 
in  rings  from  his  handsome  mouth.  This  was  Lieu- 
tenant Berg,  an  officer  of  the  Semyonovsky  regiment, 
with  whom  Boris  was  going  to  the  army  ;  the  very  per- 
son about  whom  Natasha  had  teased  Viera  by  calling 
him  her  lover. 

The  count  was  sitting  between  these  two  and  listening 
attentively.  The  occupation  that  the  count  enjoyed 
most,  next  to  the  game  of  Boston,  of  which  he  was  very 
fond,  was  that  of  listener,  especially  when  he  had  a 
chance  to  get  two  good  talkers  on  the  opposite  sides  of 
an  argument. 

''Well  now,  batyushka,  my  most  honorable  Alphonse 
Karlitch,"  said  Shinshin,  with  a  sneer,  and,  as  his  cus- 
tom wag  when  he  talked,  mixing  up  the  most  colloquial 
Russian  expressions  with  the  most  refined  French 
idioms,  "  your  idea  is  to  make  money  out  of  the  state  ? 
you  expect  to  get  a  nice  little  income  from  your  com- 
pany, do  you  } " 

''Not  at  all,  Piotr  Nikolaitch,  I  only  wish  to  prove 
that  the  advantages  of  serving  in  the  cavalry  are  far  less 
than  in  the  infantry.  You  can  now  imagine  my  posi- 
tion, Piotr  Nikolaitch." 

Berg  always  spoke  very  accurately,  calmly,  and  po- 
litely. His  conversation  invariably  had  himself  as  its 
central  point ;  he  always  preserved  a  discreet  silence 
when  people  were  talking  about  anything  that  did  not 
directly  concern  himself,  and  he  could  sit  that  way 
silently  for  hours  without  feeling  or  causing  others  to 
feel  the  slightest  sense  of  awkwardness.  But  as  soon 
as  the  conversation  touched  any  subject  in  which  he 
was  personally  interested,  he  would  begin  to  talk  at 
length  and  with  evident  satisfaction. 

"  Consider  my  position,  Piotr  Nikolaitch :  if  I  were 
in  the  cavalry  I  should  not  receive  more  than  two  hun- 
dred a  quarter,  even  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  but 
now  I  get  two  hundred  and  thirty,"   said  he,  with   a 

VOL.I.-6  J      -.       .,-. 


82  WAR    AND    PEACE 

pleasant,  joyful  smile,  glancing  at  Shinshin  and  the 
count,  as  if  it  were  plain  for  him  that  his  success  would 
always  be  an  object  of  interest  to  everybody  else. 

**  Moreover,  Piotr  Nikolaitch,"  continued  Berg,  "  by 
being  transferred  to  the  Guard,  I  am  in  sight ;  vacancies 
in  the  infantry  occur  far  more  often.  Then,  you  can 
see  for  yourself,  on  two  hundred  and  thirty  rubles  a 
quarter,  how  well  I  can  live.  I  can  lay  up  some  and 
send  some  to  my  father,  too,"  he  went  on  to  say,  pufhng 
out  a  ring  of  smoke. 

**  That 's  where  the  difference  lies ;  a  German  can 
grind  corn  on  the  butt  of  his  hatchet,  as  the  proverb 
puts  it,"  said  Shinshin,  shifting  the  mouthpiece  of  his  pipe 
to  the  other  side  of  his  mouth  and  winking  at  the  count. 

The  count  laughed  heartily.  The  other  guests,  see- 
ing that  Shinshin  was  engaged  in  a  lively  conversation, 
crowded  round  to  listen.  Berg,  remarking  neither  the 
quizzical  nor  indifferent  looks  of  the  others,  proceeded 
to  explain  how,  by  his  transfer  to  the  Guard,  he  would 
attain  rank  before  his  comrades  of  the  Corpus ;  how,  in 
time  of  war,  the  company  commanders  were  apt  to  be 
killed ;  and  he,  if  left  the  senior  in  the  company,  might 
very  easily  become  a  captain  ;  and  how  everybody  in  the 
regiment  liked  him,  and  how  proud  of  him  his  papenka 
was. 

Berg  evidently  took  great  delight  in  telling  all  this, 
and  he  never  seemed  to  suspect  that  other  people  had 
also  their  interests.  But  all  that  he  said  was  so  suavely 
serious,  the  naivete  of  his  youthful  egotism  was  so  pal- 
pable, that  he  quite  disarmed  his  auditors. 

**  Well,  my  lad,^  whether  you  are  in  the  infantry  or  in 
the  Guard,  you  will  get  on ;  that  I  can  predict,"  said 
Shinshin,  tapping  him  on  the  shoulder  and  setting  his 
feet  down  from  the  ottoman.  Berg  smiled  with  self- 
satisfaction.  The  count,  followed  by  his  o^uests,  passed 
into  the  drawing-room. 

It  was  the  time  just  before  dinner  is  announced  when 
the  assembled  guests,  in  expectation  of  being  summoned 

1  Bdiyus,hkay  little  father. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  83 

to  partake  of  the  zaktiska,  are  disinclined  to  entering 
any  detailed  conversation,  and,  at  the  same  time,  feel 
that  it  is  incumbent  upon  them  to  stir  about  and  say 
something,  in  order  to  show  that  they  are  in  no  haste  to 
sit  down  at  table. 

The  host  and  hostess  keep  watch  of  the  door  and 
exchange  glances  from  time  to  time. .  The  guests  try  to 
read  in  those  glances  for  whom  or  for  what  they  are 
waiting,  —  some  belated  influential  connection,  or  for 
some  dish  that  is  not  done  in  time. 

Pierre  came  in  just  before  the  dinner-hour,  and  awk- 
wardly sat  down  in  the  first  chair  that  he  saw,  right  in 
the  middle  of  the  drawing-room,  so  that  he  was  in  every 
one's  way.  The  countess  tried  to  engage  him  in  con- 
versation, but  he  merely  answered  her  questions  in 
monosyllables  and  kept  looking  naively  around  him 
through  his  spectacles,  as  if  in  search  of  some  one.  It 
was  exceedingly  annoying,  but  he  was  the  only  person 
who  did  not  notice  it.  The  majority  of  the  guests, 
knowing  about  his  adventure  with  the  bear,  looked 
curiously  at  this  big,  tall,  quiet-looking  man,  and  found 
it  difficult  to  believe  that  one  so  burly  and  unassuming 
could  have  played  such  a  trick  on  a  police  officer. 

'*  Have  you  only  just  come }  "  asked  the  countess. 

**  Old,  madame,''  replied  he,  glancing  around. 

"You  have  not  seen  my  husband  t  " 

^^Non,  madam eT 

And  he  smiled  at  absolutely  the  wrong  time. 

''  You  were  in  Paris  lately,  I  believe.  I  think  it  is 
very  interesting." 

"Very  interesting." 

The  countess  exchanged  glances  with  Anna  MikhaY- 
lovna,  who  perceived  that  she  was  wanted  to  take  charge 
of  this  young  man.  She  took  a  seat  by  his  side  and 
began  to  talk  to  him  about  his  father,  but  he  answered 
her,  just  as  he  had  the  countess,  merely  in  monosylla- 
bles. 

The  other  guests  were  all  engaged  in  little  groups : 
"  Les  Razoumovsky....  "  "  That  was  charming  ....  "  "  You 
are  very  good...."   "The  Countess  Apraksina,"   were 


84  WAR    AND    PEACE 

the  broken  phrases  that  were  heard  on  all  sides.  The 
countess  got  up  and  went  into  the  hall. 

"Is  that  you,  Marya  Dmitrievna .?  "  rang  her  voice 
through  the  hall. 

"  My  own  self,"  was  the  answer  in  a  harsh  voice,  and 
immediately  after  Marya  Dmitrievna  entered  the  room. 
All  the  young  ladies  and  even  the  married  women, 
except  those  who  were  aged,  rose.  Marya  Dmitrievna 
paused  in  the  doorway,  and  from  the  height  of  her  im- 
posing stature  and  holding  her  head  very  erect  with  its 
ringlets  showing  the  gray  of  fifty  years,  she  took  a  de- 
liberate survey  of  the  guests  and  adjusted  the  wide 
sleeves  of  her  gown  as  if  they  were  disarranged. 
Marya  Dmitrievna  always  spoke  in  Russian. 

"  Congratulations  to  the  dear  one  and  her  children 
on  this  happy  day,"  said  she,  in  her  loud,  deep  voice, 
which  drowned  all  other  sounds.  **  Well,  you  old  sin- 
ner, how  are  you  .'' "  she  said,  addressing  the  count,  who 
kissed  her  hand.  "  I  suppose  you  are  bored  to  death 
in  Moscow }  Hey  ?  No  chance  to  let  out  the  dogs. 
Well,  what's  to  be  done,  batyushka,  when  you  have 
these  birds  already  grown  up.''"  She  waved  her  hand 
toward  the  young  ladies.  '*  Whether  you  wish  it  or  no, 
you  have  got  to  find  husbands  for  them.  Well,  my 
Cossack,"  said  she  (Marya  Dmitrievna  always  called 
Natasha  the  Cossack),  patting  Natasha  as  she  came 
running  up  to  kiss  her  hand  gayly  and  without  any  fear. 
"  I  know  that  this  little  girl  is  a  madcap,  but  I  am  fond 
of  her  all  the  same." 

She  took  out  of  a  monstrous  reticule  a  pair  of  pear- 
shaped  amethyst  earrings,  and  gave  them  to  the  blushing 
Natasha  in  honor  of  her  name-day ;  then  she  turned 
immediately  from  her  and  addressed  Pierre. 

"  He  !  he  !  my  dear  !  come  here,  right  here  !  "  she 
cried  in  a  pretendedly  gentle  voice.  "  Come  here,  my 
dear  fellow."  And  she  threateningly  pulled  her  sleeve 
still  higher. 

Pierre  went  to  her,  ingenuously  looking  at  her  through 
his  spectacles. 

"  Come  here,  come,  my  dear  fellow.     I  have  been  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  85 

only  one  who  dared  tell  your  father  the  whole  truth 
when  he  required  it,  and  now  I  shall  do  the  same  in 
your  case.     It 's  God's  will." 

She  paused.  All  held  their  breath,  waiting  for  what 
was  to  come,  and  feeling  that  this  was  but  the  prologue. 

''  He's  a  fine  lad,  I  must  say,  a  fine  lad !  His  father 
lying  on  his  death-bed,  and  this  young  man  amuses 
himself  by  tying  a  policeman  on  a  bear's  back !  For 
shame,  batyushka,  for  shame.  You  would  better  have 
gone  to  the  war." 

She  turned  away  from  him  and  gave  her  hand  to  the 
count,  who  found  it  difficult  to  keep  from  laughing  out- 
right. 

''Well,  then,  to  dinner;  it  is  ready,  I  believe,"  said 
Marya  Dmitrievna. 

The  count  led  the  way  with  Marya  Dmitrievna,  followed 
by  the  countess  escorted  by  the  colonel  of  hussars,  a 
man  of  influence  whose  regiment  Nikolai  was  to  join. 
Anna  Mikhai'lovna  went  with  Shinshin.  Berg  gave 
his  arm  to  Viera.  The  smihng  Julie  Karagina  went  with 
Nikolai  to  the  table.  Behind  them  followed  the  rest 
in  couples,  making  a  long  line  through  the  hall,  and  the 
rear  was  brought  up  by  the  tutors  and  governesses, 
each  leading  one  of  the  children. 

The  waiters  bustled  about,  chairs  were  noisily  pushed 
back,  an  orchestra  was  playing  in  the  gallery,  and  the, 
guests  took  their  places.  The  sounds  of  the  count's 
private  band  were  soon  drowned  in  the  clatter  of  knives 
and  forks,  the  voices  of  the  guests,  and  the  hurrying 
steps  of  the  waiters. 

At  the  head  of  the  table  sat  the  countess,  Marya 
Dmitrievna  at  her  right,  Anna  Mikhailovna  at  her  left ; 
then  the  other  ladies.  At  the  other  end  of  the  table 
sat  the  count,  with  the  colonel  of  hussars  at  his  left, 
and  Shinshin  and  the  other  men  at  his  right. 

At  one  side  of  the  long  table  were  the  young  gentle- 
men and  ladies ;  Viera  next  to  Berg,  Pierre  next  Bon's, 
on  the  other  side  the  children  and  their  tutors  and 
governesses. 

The  count,  from  behind  the  crystal  of  bottles  and 


86  WAR    AND    PEACE 

vases  with  fruits,  looked  across  to  his  wife  and  her 
towering  head-dress  with  its  blue  ribbons,  and  zealously 
helped  his  neighbors  to  wine,  not  forgetting  himself. 
The  countess  also,  not  neglecting  the  duties  of  a  hos- 
tess, cast  significant  glances  at  her  husband  over  the 
tops  of  the  pineapples,  and  it  seemed  to  her  that  his 
bald  forehead  and  face  were  all  the  more  conspicuously 
rubicund  from  the  contrast  of  his  gray  hair. 

On  the  ladies'  side  there  was  an  unceasing  buzz  of 
conversation.  On  the  side  of  the  men  the  voices  grew 
louder  and  louder ;  and  loudest  of  all  talked  the  colonel 
of  hussars,  who  ate  and  drank  all  that  he  could,  his  face 
growing  more  and  more  flushed,  so  that  the  count  felt 
called  upon  to  hold  him  up  to  the  other  guests  as  an 
example.  Berg,  with  an  affectionate  smile,  was  talking 
with  Viera  on  the  theme  of  love  being  not  an  earthly 
but  a  heavenly  feeling.  Boris  was  enlightening  his 
new  friend  Pierre  as  to  the  guests  who  were  at  the 
table,  and  occasionally  exchanged  glances  with  Natasha, 
whose  seat  was  on  the  opposite  side. 

Pierre  himself  said  little  but  ate  much,  while  he 
scanned  the  faces  of  the  guests.  Having  been  offered 
two  kinds  of  soups,  he  had  chosen  turtle,  and  from  the 
'^^\\-kulebydka  to  the  saute  of  w^oodcock,  he  did  not 
refuse  a  single  dish,  or  any  of  the  wines  which  the 
butler  offered  him,  thrusting  the  bottle,  mysteriously 
wrapped  in  a  white  napkin,  over  his  neighbor's  shoulder, 
murmuring:  "Dry  Madeira,"  or  ''Hungarian,"  or 
"  Rhine  wine."  He  held  up  the  first  that  he  happened 
to  lay  his  hand  upon  of  the  four  wine-glasses,  engraved 
with  the  count's  arms,  that  stood  before  each  guest,  and 
drank  rapturously,  and  the  face  that  he  turned  upon  the 
guests  grew  constantly  more  and  more  friendly. 

Natasha,  sitting  opposite,  gazed  at  Bon's,  as  young 
girls  of  thirteen  only  can  on  the  lad  with  whom  they 
have  just  exchanged  kisses  and  are  very  much  in  love 
Occasionally  she  let  her  eyes  rest  on  Pierre,  and  this 
glance  of  the  ridiculous  little  maiden,  so  lively  in  all  her 
ways,  almost  made  him  feel  like  laughing,  he  could  not 
tell  why. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  87 

Nikolai  was  seated  at  some  distance  from  Sonya,  and 
next  to  Julie  Karagina,  and  was  again  talking  with  her 
with  the  same  involuntary  smile.  Sonya  also  had  a 
smile  on  her  lips,  but  it  was  not  natural,  and  she  was 
evidently  tortured  by  jealousy;  first  she  turned  pale, 
then  red,  and  was  doing  her  best  to  imagine  what  Nikola'f 
and  Julie  were  talking  about. 

The  governess  was  looking  around  nervously,  as  if 
ready  to  make  resistance  should  any  one  presume  to 
injure  her  young  charges.  The  German  tutor  was  en- 
deavoring to  fix  in  his  memory  all  the  different  courses, 
desserts,  and  wines,  so  as  to  give  a  full  description  of  it 
when  he  wrote  home  to  Germany  ;  he  felt  sorely  grieved 
because  the  butler  who  had  the  bottle  wrapped  in  the 
napkin  passed  him  by.  He  frowned,  and  tried  to  make 
it  appear  that  he  had  no  wish  to  taste  that  wine  and 
was  only  affronted  because  no  one  was  willing  to  see 
that  he  needed  the  wine,  not  for  allaying  his  thirst,  or 
from  greediness,  but  from  motives  of  curiosity. 


CHAPTER   XVni 

At  the  men's  end  of  the  table,  the  conversation  was 
growing  more  and  more  animated.  The  colonel  was 
telling  that  the  manifesto  in  regard  to  the  declaration 
of  war  had  already  appeared  in  Petersburg,  and  that  he 
had  seen  a  copy  of  it  which  had  been  brought  that  day 
by  a  courier  to  the  commander-in-chief. 

"  Why  the  deuce  should  it  behoove  us  to  fight  with 
Bonaparte  .''  "  exclaimed  Shinshin.  "  He  has  already 
lowered  the  crest  of  Austria.  I  fear  that  now  it  will  be 
our  turn." 

The  colonel  was  a  stout,  tall  German  of  a  sanguine 
temperament,  but  a  thorough  soldier  and  a  patriot, 
nevertheless.     He.  felt  affronted  at  what  Shinshin  said. 

**  But  why,  my  dear  sir,"  said  he,  mispronouncing 
every  word,  '*  inasmuch  as  de  emperor  knows  dat  .'*  In 
his  mahnifest,  he  says  dat  he  cahnnot  looke  with  indeef- 
erence    on   de   danjers   trectening   Russia,   and   dat   de 


88  WAR   AND    PEACE 

safety  of  de  empire  and  de  sanctity  of  de  allies....  "  and 
he  put  a  special  emphasis  on  the  word  allies,  as  if  it 
contained  the  whole  essence  of  the  matter. 

And  then  with  his  infallible  memory,  trained  by  offi- 
cial life,  he  began  to  repeat  the  introductory  clause  of 
the  manifesto  :  "  '  And  as  the  emperor's  wish  and  con- 
stant and  unalterable  aim  is  to  establish  peace  in  Europe 
on  lasting  foundations,  he  has  determined  to  move  a 
portion  of  his  army  aoross  the  frontier,  and  to  make 
every  effort  for  the  attainment  of  this  design.'  And 
dat  is  de  reason,  my  dear  sir,"  said  he,  in  conclusion, 
edifyingly  draining  his  glass  of  wine  and  glancing  at  the 
count  for  encouragement. 

''  Do  you  know  the  proverb,  '  Yerema,  Yerema,  you  'd 
better  stay  at  home  and  twirl  the  spindle } '  "  said  Shin- 
shin,  frowning  and  smiling.  "That  fits  us  to  a  T. 
Even  Suvorof  was  cut  all  to  pieces,  and  where  shall  we 
find  a  Suvorof  in  these  days }  What  do  you  think 
about  it.^"  asked  he,  incessantly  changing  from  Russian 
to  French. 

''Ve  must  fight  to  the  last  dr-r-rop  of  cur  blood," 
said  the  colonel,  thumping  on  the  table;  "ve  must  be 
villing  to  per-r-r-rish  for  our  emberor,  and  then  all  vill 
be  veil.  And  arkue  as  leedle  as  po-oo-sible,  as  leedle  as 
po-ossible,"  he  repeated,  giving  a  strong  stress  to  the 
word  "  possible,"  and  looking  again  at  the  count.  *'  Dat 's 
de  vay  ve  old  hussars  look  at  it.  And  how  do  you  look 
at  it,  young  mahn  and  young  hussar  1  "  he  added,  turn- 
ing to  Nikolai,  who,  quite  neglecting  his  fair  compan- 
ion, now  that  the  talk  turned  on  the  war,  was  looking 
with  all  his  eyes  at  the  colonel  and  drinking  in  all  that 
he  had  to  say. 

*'  I  agree  with  you  entirely,"  returned  Nikolai,  in  a 
glow,  and  turning  his  plate  round  and  rearranging  his 
wine-glasses  with  a  resolute  and  desperate  face,  as  if  at 
that  very  instant  he  were  going  to  be  called  upon  to 
face  a  great  peril.  *'  I  am  convinced  that  we  Russians 
must  either  conquer  or  die,"  said  he,  and  then  instantly 
felt  just  as  the  rest  did,  after  the  words  v/ere  out  of  his 
mouth,  that  he   had  spoken  more  enthusiastically  and 


WAR   AND    PEACE  89 

bombastically  than  the  occasion  warranted,  and,  there- 
fore, awkwardly. 

"What  you  just  said  was  splendid,"  said  Julie,  with  a 
sigh.  Sonya  v/as  all  of  a  tremble,  and  blushed  to  her 
ears  and  even  to  her  shoulders,  while  Nikolai  was 
speaking.  Pierre  listened  to  the  colonel's  speeches  and 
nodded  his  head  in  approval. 

''Now,  that's  splendid,"  said  he. 

*'  You  're  a  real  hussar,  young  mahn  ! "  cried  the 
colonel,  again  thumping  on  the  table. 

''What  are  you  making  such  a  noise  about  there.?" 
suddenly  spoke  up  Marya  Dmitrievna,  her  deep  voice 
ringing  across  the  table.  "  Why  are  you  pounding  on 
the  table  .?  "  she  demanded  of  the  hussar.  "  What  are 
you  getting  so  heated  about,  pray .?  One  would  really 
think  that  the  French  were  right  here  before  you  !  " 

"  I  am  delling  the  druth,"  said  the  hussar,  smiling. 

"  Always  talking  about  the  war,"  cried  the  count, 
across  the  table.  "  You  see  I  have  a  son  who  is  going. 
Marya  Dmitrievna,  my  son  is  going." 

"Well,  I  have  four  sons  in  the  army,  but  I  don't 
mourn  over  it.  God's  will  rules  all.  You  may  die  at 
home  lying  on  your  oven,  or  God  may  bring  you  safe 
out  of  battle,"  rang  Marya  Dmitrievna's  loud  voice, 
without  any  effort,  from  the  farther  end  of  the  table. 

"That  is  so." 

And  the  conversation  again  was  confined  among  the 
ladies  at  their  end  of  the  table  and  among  the  men  at 
theirs. 

"You  won't  dare  to  ask  it,"  said  Natasha's  little 
brother  to  her.     "  I  tell  you,  you  won't  dare  to !  " 

"  Yes,  I  shall  too,"  replied  Natasha. 

Her  face  suddenly  kindled  and  expressed  a  desperate 
and  mischievous  resolution.  She  started  up  with  a 
glance,  causing  Pierre  who  was  sitting  opposite  to  her 
to  listen,  and  addressed  her  mother. 

"  Mamma,"  rang  her  childish  contralto  voice  across 
the  table. 

"  What  is  it  you  wish  ?  "  asked  the  countess,  alarmed  ; 
but  seeing   by  her  daughter's  face  that  it  was    some 


90  WAR    AND    PEACE 

prank,  she  shook  her  finger  sternly  at  her  and  made  a 
warning  motion  with  her  head. 

There  was  a  lull  in  the  conversation. 
"  Mamma !    what    sort  of  pastry  is  coming  ?  "  cried 
the    little   voice,  even    more   clearly  and    without    any 
hesitation. 

The  countess  tried    to   look    severe   but   could   not. 
Marya  Dmitrievna  shook  her  stout  finger  at  the  girl. 
"  Cossack  !  "  said  she. 

The  majority  of  the  guests  looked  at  the  old  ladies 
and  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  this  freak. 

*'You  will  see  what  I  shall  do  to  you,"  said  the 
countess. 

"  Mamma !  tell  me  what  pastry  are  we  going  to 
have,"  cried  Natasha  again,  all  in  a  giggle,  and  assured 
in  her  own  merry  little  heart  that  her  prank  would  not 
be  taken  amiss.  Sonya  and  the  stout  little  Petya  were 
struggling  with  suppressed  laughter. 

"  There,  I  did  ask,"  whispered  Natasha  to  her  little 
brother  and  to  Pierre,  on  whom  she  again  fastened  her 
eyes. 

''Ices;  but  you  are  not  to  have  any,"  said  Marya 
Dmitrievna. 

Natasha  saw  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  afraid  of, 
and  therefore  she  had  no  fear  even  of  Marya  Dmi- 
trievna. 

"  Marya  Dmitrievna !  what  kind  of  ices  ?     I  don't  like 
ice  cream." 
"  Carrot." 

"  No  !  what  kind  ?  Marya  Dmitrievna,  tell  me  what 
kind,"  she  almost  screamed. 

Marya  Dmitrievna  and  the  countess  laughed,  and  the 
rest  of  the  guests  did  the  same.  All  laughed,  not  so 
much  at  Marya  Dmitrievna's  repartee,  as  at  the  incom- 
^prehensible  bravery  and  cleverness  of  the  little  girl  who 
could  and  dared  treat  Marya  Dmitrievna  so. 

Natasha  was  made  to  hold  her  tongue  only  when  she 
was  told  that  they  were  to  have  pineapple  sherbet.  Be- 
fore the  ices  were  brought,  champagne  was  handed 
around.      Again    the    orchestra    played,  the    count   ex- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  91 

changed  kisses  with  his  "  little  countess,"  and  the  guests 
standing,  drank  a  health  to  the  hostess,  clinking  their 
glasses  across  the  table  with  the  count,  with  the  chil- 
dren, and  with  each  other.  Again  the  waiters  bustled 
about,  there  was  the  noise  of  moving  chairs,  and  in  the 
same  order  but  with  more  flushed  faces,  the  guests  re- 
turned to  the  drawing-room  and  to  the  count's  cabinet. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

The  card-tables  were  brought  out,  partners  were 
selected,  and  the  count's  guests  scattered  through  the 
two  drawing-rooms,  the  divan-room,  and  the  library. 

The  count,  having  arranged  his  cards  in  a  fan-shape, 
found  it  difficult  to  keep  from  indulging  in  his  usual 
after-dinner  nap,  and  laughed  heartily  at  everything. 
The  young  people  at  the  countess's  instigation  gathered 
around  the  clavichord  and  the  harp.  Julie,  first,  by 
general  request,  played  a  piece  with  variations  on  the 
harp ;  and  then  she  joined  with  the  rest  of  the  girls  in 
urging  Natasha  and  Nikolai',  whose  musical  talent  was 
known  to  all,  to  sing  something.  Natasha  was  evidently 
very  much  flattered  by  this  request  and  at  the  same 
time  it  filled  her  with  trepidation. 

"  What  shall  we  sing }  "  she  asked. 

"  *  The  Fountain,'  "  suggested  NikolaT.^ 

"Well,  give  me  the  music,  quick;  Boris,  come  here," 
said  Natasha.     "  But  where  is  Sonya  1 " 

She  looked  around  and  seeing  that  her  cousin  was 
nowhere  in  the  room,  she  started  to  find  her. 

She  ran  into  Sonya's  room  and  not  finding  her  there, 
hastened  to  the  nursery,  but  she  was  not  there.  Na- 
tasha then  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Sonya  might  be 
in  the  corridor  on  the  'great  chest.  The  great  chest  in 
the  corridor  was  the  place  of  mourning  for  all  the 
young  women  of  the  house  of  Rostof.  There  in  fact 
Sonya  was  in  her  airy  pink  frock  all  crumpled,  lying  flat 
on  her  face  on  a  dirty  striped  pillow  which  belonged  to 
the  nurse,  and,  hiding  her  face  in  her  hands,  was  crying. 


92  WAR   AND    PEACE 

as  if  her  heart  would  break,  while  her  bare  shoulders 
shook  under, her  sobs. 

Natasha's  face,  which  had  been  so  radiant  all  through 
her  name-day,  suddenly  changed  ;  her  eyes  grew  fixed, 
then  her  throat  contracted,  and  the  corners  of  her 
mouth  drew  down. 

"Sonya!  what  is  the  matter.''  Tell  me  what  is  it; 
what  is  the  matter  with  you  ?     Oo-oo-oo  !  " 

And  Natasha,  opening  her  large  mouth  and  becoming 
perfectly  ugly,  cried  like  a  child,  without  knowing  any 
reason  for  it  except  that  Sonya  was  crying.  Sonya 
■.ried  to  lift  up  her  head,  tried  to  answer,  but  found  it 
impossible  and  hid  her  face  again.  Natasha  sat  down 
on  the  blue  cushion  and  threw  her  arms  around  her 
dear  cousin.  At  length  Sonya  put  forth  an  effort,  sat 
up,  and  began  to  wipe  away  her  tears,  saying :  — 

"  Nikolenka  is  going  away  in  a  week....  his  ....  papers 
....have  come....  he  himself  told  me  so.  But  I  should 
not  have  wept."  ....  She  held  out  a  piece  of  paper 
which  she    had  been  reading;    it  contained  the  verses 

ihat  Nikolai  had  written  for   her "  I   should    not 

have  wept  for  that ....  but  you  cannot  understand....  no 
one  can  understand  ....  what  a  noble  heart  he  has." 

And  once  more  her  tears  began  to  flow  at  the  thought 
of  what  a  noble  heart  he  had. 

"  You  are  happy  ....  I  do  not  envy  you ....  I  love  you 
and  Boris  too,"  said  she,  composing  herself  by  an  effort. 
"  He  is  good  ....  for  you  there  are  no  obstacles.  But 
Nikolai"  is  my  cousin  ....  we  should  have  to ....  the  arch- 
bishop himself ....  else  it  Vvould  be  impossible.  And 
then  if  mamenka"  —  Sonya  always  regarded  the  countess 
as  her  mother  and  called  her  so  —  "  she  will  say  that  I 
am  spoiling  Nikolai's  career,  that  I  am  heartless  and 
ungrateful,  and  she  would  be  right  too ;  but  God  is  my 
witness  "  —  she  crossed  herself-^  "I  love  her  so  and  all 
of  you,  except  only  Viera....  and  why  is  it.?  What  have 
I  done  to  her.?....  I  am  so  grateful  to  you,  that  I  would 
gladly  make  any  sacrifice  for  you ..,.  but  it 's  no  use....  " 
Sonya  could  say  no  more,  and  again  she  buried  her  face 
in  the  cushion  and  her  hands.     Natasha  tried  to  calm 


WAR   AND    PEACE  93 

her,  but  it  could  be  seen  by  her  face  that  she  under 
stood  all  the  depth  of  Sonya's  woe. 

''Sonya!"  she  exclaimed  suddenly,  as  if  surmising 
the  actual  reason  of  her  cousin's  grief,  ''truly,  didn't 
Viera  say  something  to  you  after  dinner  ?     Tell  me  !  " 

"  Nikolai  wrote  these  verses  himself,  and  I  copied 
off  some  other  ones ;  and  she  found  them  on  my  table 
and  said  that  she  was  going  to  show  them  to  mamenka, 
and  she  said,  too,  that  I  was  ungrateful,  that  mamenka 
would  never -let  him  marry  me,  and  that  he  was  going 
to  marry  Julie.  You  saw  how  he  was  with  her  all  the 
time Natasha!  why  should  it  be  so  }  " 

And  again  she  began  to  sob,  more  bitterly  than  be- 
fore. Natasha  tried  to  lift  her  up,  threw  her  arms 
around  her,  and  smiling  through  her  tears,  began  to 
console  her. 

"  Sonya,  don't  you  believe  her,  dear  heart;  don't  .be- 
lieve her.  Don't  you  remember  we  three  and  Nikolenka 
talked  together  in  the  divan-room,  after  lunch  .?  Why, 
we  thought  it  all  out,  how  it  should  be.  I  don't  exactly 
remember  how  it  was,  but  you  know  it  will  be  all  right 
and  everything  can  be  arranged.  There  was  Uncle 
Shinshin's  brother  married  his  ozvn  cousin,  and  we  are 
only  second  cousins.  And  Boris  said  that  that  was  per- 
fectly possible.  You  know  I  tell  him  everything.  For 
he  is  so  clever  and  so  kind,"  said  Natasha.  ''Now, 
Sonya,  don't  cry  any  more,  dear  dove,  sweetheart, 
Sonya,"  and  she  kissed  her,  and  laughed  merrily; 
*'  Viera  is  spiteful,  I  'm  sorry  for  her !  But  all  wiU  be 
well,  and  she  won't  say  anything  to  mamenka;  Niko- 
lenka himself  will  tell  her,  and  then  again,  he  does  n't 
care  anything  about  Juhe,"  and  she  kissed  her  on  her 
hair. 

Sonya  jumped  up,  and  again  the  kitten  became  lively, 
its  eyes  danced,  and  it  was  ready,  waving  its  tail,  to 
spring  down  on  its  soft  little  paws  and  to  play  with  the 
ball  again,  as  was  perfectly  natural  for  it  to  do. 

"  Do  you  think  so  ?  Truly  .?  Do  you  swear  it  ? " 
said  she  quickly,  smoothing  out  her  crumpled  dress  and 
hair. 


94 


WAR    AND    PEACE 


''Truly!  I  swear  it!"  replied  Natasha,  tucking  an 
unruly  tuft  of  curly  hair  back  under  her  cousin's  braid. 
"Well,  now,  let  us  go  and  sing  'The  Fountain.'  " 

"  Come  on  !  " 

"  But  do  you  know,  that  stout  Pierre  who  sat  opposite 
me  is  so  amusing!  "  suddenly  exclaimed  Natasha,  stop- 
ping short.  "  Oh,  it  is  such  fun  !  "  and  the  girl  danced 
along  the  corridor. 

Sonya,  shaking  off  some  down,  and  hiding  the  verses 
in  her  bosom,  her  face  all  aglow,  followed  Natasha  with 
light  merry  steps  along  the  corridor,  into  the  divan- 
room.  According  to  the  request  of  the  guests,  the 
young  people  sang  the  quartet,  entitled  "  The  Foun- 
tain," which  was  universally  acceptable;  then  Nikolai 
sang  a  new  song  which  he  had  just  learned  :  — 

"  The  night  is  bright,  the  moon  is  sinkings 
How  sweet  it  is  to  tell  0)ie''s  heart 
That  some  o?ie  in  the  world  is  thinking, 

'  My  own  true  only  love  thou  art !  ^ 
That  she  her  lovely  hand  is  laying 
upon  the  golden  harp  to-night^ 
While  passionate  harmonies  are  swaying 
Her  sold  and  thine  to  new  delight ; 
One  day,  two  days,  theft  Paradise !  — 
Alas !  thy  love  on  her  death-bed  lies  I " 

He  had  hardly  finished  singing  the  last  word,  when 
preparations  began  to  be  made  for  dancing,  and  the 
musicians  made  their  way  into  the  gallery  with  a  tram- 
pling of  feet,  and  coughing. 

Pierre  was  sitting  in  the  drawing-room  with  Shinshin, 
who,  knowing  that  he  had  recently  returned  from 
abroad,  was  trying  to  induce  a  political  conversation 
that  was  exceedingly  tedious  to  the  young  man ;  several 
others  had  joined  the  group.  When  the  music  struck 
up,  Natasha  went  into  the  drawing-room,  and  going 
straight  up  to  Pierre,  said,  laughing  and  blushing :  — 
"  Mamma  told  me  to  ask  you  to  join  the  dancers." 
"I  am  afraid  of  spoiling  the  figures,"  said  Pierre; 
"  but  if  you  will  act  as  my  teacher,"  and  he  offered  his  big 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


9:> 


arm  to  the  dainty  damsel,  though  he  was  obliged  to  put 
it  down  very  low. 

While  the  couples  were  getting  their  places,  and  the 
musicians  were  tuning  up,  Pierre  sat  down  with  his  little 
lady.  Natasha  was  perfectly  delighted  ;  she  was  going 
to  dance  with  a  big  man,  who  had  just  come  fi'om 
abroad.  She  sat  out  in  front  of  everybody,  and  talked 
with  him,  exa^^tly  as  if  she  were  grown  up.  In  her  hand 
she  had  a  fan  which  some  lady  had  given  her  to  hold ; 
and  with  all  the  self-possession  of  an  accomplished  lady 
of  the  world  (God  knows  when  and  where  she  had 
learned  it),  she  talked  with  her  cavalier,  flirting  her  fan 
and  smiling  behind  it. 

"  Well,  well !  do  look  at  her,  do  look  at  her,"  said 
the  countess,  as  she  passed  through  the  ball-room  and 
caught  sight  of  Natasha.  The  girl  reddened  and 
laughed. 

**  Now  what  is  it,  mamma .''  what  would  you  like  ? 
What  is  there  extraordinary  about  me .''" 

In  the  midst  of  the  third  ''Ecossaise^'  the  chairs  in 
the  drawing-room,  where  the  count  and  Mary  a  Dmi- 
trievna  were  playing  cards,  were  moved  back,  and  a 
large  number  of  the  distinguished  guests  and  the  older 
people,  stretching  their  cramped  limbs  after  long  sit- 
ting, and  putting  their  porte-monnaies  and  wallets  into 
their  pockets,  came  into  the  ball-room. 

First  of  all  came  the  count  and  Marya  Dmitrievna, 
both  with  radiant  faces.  The  count,  with  farcical  polite- 
ness, as  if  in  ballet  fashion,  offered  the  lady  his  bended 
arm.  Then  he  straightened  himself,  and  his  face  lighted 
with  a  peculiarly  shrewd  and  youthful  smile,  and,  as 
soon  as  the  last  figure  of  the  ''Ecossaise  "  was  danced 
through,  he  clapped  his  hands  at  the  musicians  and 
called  out  to  the  first  violin :  — 

"  Semyon  !     Do  you  know  '  Daniel  Cooper ' }  " 

This  was  the  count's  favorite  dance,  which  he  had 
danced  when  he  was  a  young  man  (more  particularly  it 
was  one  of  the  figures  of  the  Anglais e). 

"  Look  at  papa !  "  cried  Natasha,  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  all  over  the  ball-room  (entirely  forgetting  that  she 


96  WAR    AND    PEACE 

was  dancing  with  a  grown-up  man !).  She  bent  her  curly 
head  over  her  knees,  and  let  her  merry  laugh  ring  out 
unchecked.  Indeed,  all  who  were  in  the  hall  gazed  with 
a  smile  of  pleasure  at  the  jolly  little  man  standing  with 
the  dignified  Marya  Dmitrievna,  who  was  considerably 
taller  than  her  partner,  holding  his  arms  in  a  bow, 
straightening  his  shoulders,  and  turning  out  his  toes, 
slightly  beating  time  with  his  foot,  while  a  beaming 
smile  spread  more  and  more  over  his  round  face,  and 
gave  the  spectators  an  inkling  of  what  was  to  follow. 
As  soon  as  the  merry,  fascinating  sounds  of  ''Daniel 
Cooper "  were  heard,  reminding  one  of  the  national 
dance,  the  trepakd,  all  the  doors  to  the  ball-room  were 
suddenly  filled ;  on  one  side  by  the  serving-men  belong- 
ing to  the  household,  on  the  other  with  the  women,  all 
with  smiling  faces  coming  to  look  at  their  merry-hearted 
master. 

"  Oh  !  our  little  father  !  an  eagle!  "  exclaimed  a  nurse, 
in  a  loud  staccato,  in  one  of  the  doors. 

The  count  danced  well,  and  he  knew  it,  but  his  part- 
ner had  absolutely  no  wish  or  ability  to  dance  well. 
Her  portentous  form  was  erect,  and  her  big  hands 
hung  down  by  her  side  ;  she  had  handed  her  reticule 
to  the  countess ;  only  her  stern  but  handsome  face 
danced ! 

What  was  expressed  in  the  whole  rotund  person  of 
the  count,  was  expressed  in  Marya  Dmitrievna  merely 
in  her  ever  more  and  more  radiantly  smiling  face  and 
more  loftily  lifted  nose  ! 

But  while  the  count,  growing  ever  more  and  more 
lively,  captivated  the  spectators  by  the  unexpectedness 
of  his  graceful  capers  and  the  light  gambols  of  his  lissome 
legs,  Marya  Dmitrievna,  by  the  slightest  animation  on 
her  part,  by  the  motion  of  her  shoulders  or  the  bending 
of  her  arms  in  turning  about  or  beating  time,  produced 
the  greatest  impression ;  for  the  very  reason  that  every 
one  always  felt  a  certain  awe  before  her  dignity  of  bear- 
ing and  habitual  severity. 

The  dance  grew  livelier  and  livelier.  The  other 
dancers   could  not  for  an  instant  attract  attention  to 


WAR   AND    PEACE  97 

themselves  and  dia  not  even  try.  All  eyes  were  fas- 
tened on  the  count  and  Marya  Dmitrievna.  Natasha 
kept  pulling  at  the  sleeves  and  dresses  of  all  who  were 
near  her  to  make  them  look  at  her  papenka,  but  even 
without  this  reminder  they  would  have  found  it  hard  to 
take  their  eyes  off  the  two  dancers. 

The  count,  in  the  intervals  of  the  dance,  made  desper- 
ate efforts  to  get  breath,  waved  his  hands,  and  cried  to 
the  musicians  to  play  faster.  Quicker,  quicker,  and  ever 
quicker,  lighter,  lighter,  and  ever  more  lightly,  gambolled 
the  count,  now  on  his  toes,  now  on  his  heels,  pirouetting 
around  Marya  Dmitrievna,  and,  at  last,  having  con- 
ducted the  lady  to  her  place,  he  made  one  last  '' pas,'' 
lifting  his  fat  leg  up  from  behind  in  a  magnificent 
scrape,  and  bowing  his  perspiring  head  low,  at  the 
same  time  with  a  smiling  face  sweeping  his  arm  round 
amid  rapturous  applause  and  laughter,  especially  from 
Natasha. 

Both  of  the  dancers  paused,  breathing  heavily,  and 
wiping  their  heated  faces  with  cambric  handkerchiefs. 

''That's  the  way  we  used  to  dance  in  our  time,  via 
chh-e,"'  said  the  count. 

''Good  for  'Daniel  Cooper'!"  exclaimed  Marya 
Dmitrievna,  drawing  a  long  breath  and  tucking  back 
her  sleeves. 


CHAPTER   XX 

At  the  very  time  when  in  the  Rostofs'  ball-room  they 
were  dancing  the  sixth  "  Anglaise;'  and  the  musicians 
from  weariness  were  beginning  to  play  out  of  tune,  and 
the  tired  servants  and  cooks  were  preparing  for  the 
supper.  Count  Bezukhoi  received  his  sixth  stroke  of 
apoplexy.  The  doctors  declared  that  there  was  not 
the  slightest  hope  of  his  rallying  from  it.  The  form 
of  confession  and  communion  was  administered  to  the 
dying  man,  and  preparations  were  making  for  extreme 
unction,  while  the  mansion  was  filled  with  the  bustle 
and  expectation  usual  in  such  circumstances. 
VOL.  I.  —  7 


98  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Outside  the  house,  around  the  doors,  hidden  by  the 
throngs  of  carriages,  gathered  the  undertakers,  hoping 
to  reap  a  rich  harvest  from  the  count's  obsequies. 

The  miHtary  governor  of  Moscow,  who  had  been  as- 
siduous in  sending  his  adjutant  to  inquire  for  the  count, 
this  evening  came  himself  to  bid  farewell  to  the  famous 
grandee  of  Catherine's  time. 

The  magnificent  reception-room  was  crowded.  All 
rose  deferentially,  when  the  governor,  who  had  been 
closeted  for  half  an  hour  with  the  sick  man,  came  out, 
slightly  bowing  in  reply  to  the  salutations,  and  endeav-^ 
oring  to  pass  as  rapidly  as  possible  by  the  doctors, 
priests,  and  relatives  who  fixed  their  eyes  upon  him. 
Prince  Vasi'li,  grown  a  trifle  thinner  and  paler  during 
these  last  days,  accompanied  the  military  governor,  and 
was  repeating  something  in  an  undertone. 

Having  seen  the  military  governor  to  the  door,  Prince 
Vasi'li  sat  down  alone  in  the  salon,  threw  one  leg  overi 
the  other,  resting  his  elbow  on  his  knee  and  covering 
his  eyes  with  his  hand.  Having  sat  that  way  for  some 
little  time,  he  got  up  and  with  hasty  irregular  steps, 
looking  around  with  startled  eyes,  he  passed  through 
the  long  corridor  that  led  to  the  rear  portion  of  the 
house,  to  the  room  occupied  by  the  oldest  of  the  three 
princesses. 

The  visitors  in  the  dimly  lighted  reception-room  talked 
among  themselves  in  low  whispers  and  relapsed  into 
silence,  looking  with  eyes  full  of  curiosity  or  expecta- 
tion when  the  door  that  led  into  the  death-chamber 
opened  to  let  any  one  pass  in  or  out. 

"The  limit  of  his  life,"  said  a  little  old  man,  a  priest, 
to  a  lady  sitting  near  him  and  listening  earnestly,  "  the 
limit  is  fixed,  he  will  not  live  beyond  it." 

"  It  seems  to  me  it  is  late  for  extreme  unction,  is  it 
not .? "  asked  the  lady,  adding  the  name  of  the  priest. 
She  affected  to  be  unenlightened  on  this  point. 

"It  is  a  great  mystery,  matushka,"  replied  the  priest, 
passing  his  hand  over  his  bald  forehead,  on  which  still 
lay  a  few  carefully  brushed  locks  of  grayish  hair. 

'  Who  was  that .''    The  governor  of  Moscow  ?  "  some 


WAR  AND    PEACE 


99 


one  asked  at  the  other  end  of  the  room.     "What  a 
young-looking  man  !  " 

"But  he's  seventy  years  old!  They  say,  don't  they, 
that  the  count  doesn't  recognize  any  one  any  longer  ? 
Are  they  going  to  give  him  extreme  unction  ? " 

"All  I  know  is,  he's  had  seven  strokes." 

The  second  princess  just  came  out  of  the  sick-cham- 
ber with  weeping  eyes,  and  sat  down  by  Dr.  Lorrain, 
who  had  assumed  a  graceful  position  under  the  portrait 
of  the  Empress  Catherine  and  sat  with  his  elbow  resting 
on  the  table. 

"  Beautiful  weather,  princess,  and  this  being  in  Mos- 
cow is  like  being  in  the  country,"  said  the  doctor,  in 
French. 

'  It  is,  indeed,"  said  the  princess,  with  a  sigh.  "  Can 
he  have  a  drink  .''  " 

Lorrain  pondered  a  moment. 

"  Has  he  taken  his  medicine  }  " 

"Yes." 

"  Take  a  glass  of  boiled  water,  and  add  a  pinch "  — 
he  indicated  with  his  slender  fingers  what  he  meant  by 
a  pinch  —  "  of  cream  of  tartar." 

"  I  neffer  haird  of  a  gase  vere  a  mahn  surfifed  more 
dan  a  dird  stroke,"  said  a  German  doctor  to  an  adjutant 

"What  a  constitution  the  man  must  have  had!  "  said 
the  adjutant.  "  And  who  will  get  all  his  wealth  ?  "  he 
added,  in  a  whisper. 

"Some  vun  vill  be  fount  to  tek  it,"  replied  the  Ger- 
man, with  a  smile. 

Again  they  all  looked  at  the  door ;  it  opened  to  let 
the  young  princess  pass  with  the  drink  which  Lorrain 
had  ordered  for  the  sick  man.  The  German  doctor  went 
over  to  Lorrain :  "  Do  you  think  he  will  last  till  to-mor- 
row morning  ?  "  he  asked,  in  atrocious  French. 

Lorrain  thrust  out  his  lips  and  made  a  motion  of 
severe  negation  with  his  fingers,  in  front  of  his  nose  : — ■ 

"  To-night,  at  latest,"  said  he,  in  a  low  voice,  with  a 
slight  smile  of  self-satisfaction  at  being  able  to  under- 
stand and  express  the  state  of  his  patient;  then  he 
went  out. 


loo  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Meantime,  Prince  Vasili  had  opened  the  door  into 
the  princess's  apartment. 

It  was  almost  dark  in  the  room  ;  two  little  lamps  were 
burning  before  the  holy  pictures,  and  there  was  a  pleas- 
ant odor  of  incense  and  flowers.  The  whole  room  was 
furnished  with  small  articles  of  furniture,  chiffonniers, 
cabinets,  and  little  tables.  Behind  a  screen  could  be 
seen  the  white  curtain  of  a  high-post  bedstead.  A  little 
dog  came  running  out,  and  barking. 

"  Ah,  is  it  you,  cousin  ?  " 

She  got  up  and  smoothed  her  hair,  which,  as  always, 
was  so  extraordinarily  smooth  that  one  would  have 
thought  it  made  of  one  piece  with  her  head  and  then 
covered  with  varnish. 

"What  is  it.-^  What  has  happened.?"  she  asked. 
'*  You  startled  me  so  !  " 

"  Nothing  !  There  is  no  change,  I  only  came  to  have 
a  talk  with  you,  Katish  —  about  business,"  said  the  prince, 
wearily  sitting  down  in  the  chair  from  which  she  had 
just  risen.  "  How  warm  you  are  here,"  he  exclaimed. 
"  However,  sit  down  there  ;  let  us  talk." 

"  I  thought  something  must  have  happened,"  said  the 
princess,  and  she  took  a  seat  in  front  of  him,  with  her 
face  hard  and  stony  as  usual  and  prepared  to  hear  what 
he  had  to  say.  "  I  was  trying  to  get  a  nap,  cousin,  and 
I  could  not." 

"  Well,  my  dear,"  said  Prince  Vasi'li,  taking  the  prin- 
cess's hand  and  doubling  it  over  in  a  way  peculiar  to 
himself. 

It  was  evident  that  this  "  well,  my  dear,"  referred  to 
a  number  of  things,  which,  though  unspoken,  were  under- 
stood by  both  of  them. 

The  princess,  with  her  long  thin  waist,  so  dispropor- 
tionate to  the  rest  of  her  body,  looked  the  prince  full 
in  the  face  from  her  prominent  gray  eyes.  Then  she 
shook  her  head,  and,  with  a  sigh,  glanced  at  the  holy 
pictures.  This  action  might  have  been  taken  as  an  ex- 
pression of  grief  and  resignation,  or  as  an  expression  of 
weariness  and  hope  of  a  speedy  respite.  Prince  Vasili 
explained  this  action  as  an  expression  of  weariness. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  loi 

*'  That 's  the  way  with  me,"  said  he.  "  Do  you  suppose 
it 's  any  easier  for  me  ?  I  am  as  played  out  as  a  post- 
horse,  but  still,  I  must  have  a  talk  with  you,  Katish,  and 
a  very  serious  one." 

Prince  Vasili  became  silent,  and  his  cheeks  began  to 
twitch  nervously,  first  on  one  side,  then  on  the  other, 
giving  his  face  an  unpleasant  look  such  as  it  never  had 
when  he  was  in  company.  His  eyes,  also,  were  different 
from  usual ;  at  one  moment  they  gleamed  impudently 
malicious,  at  the  next,  a  sort  of  fear  lurked  in  them. 

The  princess,  holding  the  little  dog  in  her  dry,  thin 
hands  on  her  lap,  scrutinized  the  prince  sharply,  but  it 
was  plain  to  see  that  she  did  not  intend  to  break  the 
silence  by  asking  any  question,  even  though  she  sat  till 
morning. 

"  Do  you  not  see,  my  dear  princess  and  cousin, 
Katerina  Semyonovna,"  continued  Prince  Vasili,  evi- 
dently bringing  himself,  not  without  an  inward  struggle, 
to  attack  the  subject;  "at  such  moments  as  this,  we 
must  think  about  all  contingencies.  We  must  think 
about  the  future,  about  yourselves. ....  I  love  all  of  you 
as  if  you  were  my  own  children  ;  you  know  that." 

The  princess  gazed  at  him  immovably,  betraying  no 
sign  of  her  feelings. 

"  Finally,  it  is  necessary,  also,  to  think  of  my  family," 
continued  Prince  Vasili,  averting  his  eyes  from  her  and 
testily  giving  a  small  table  a  push.  "You  know,  Katish, 
that  you  three  Mamontof  sisters  and  my  wife  are  the 
count's  only  direct  heirs.  I  know,  I  know  how  hard  it 
is  for  you  to  speak  and  think  about  such  things.  And 
it  is  no  easier  for  me ;  but,  my  dear,  I  am  sixty  years 
old,  I  must  be  ready  for  anything.  Do  you  know  that 
I  had  to  send  for  Pierre  ?  The  count  pointed  directly 
at  his  portrait,  signifying  that  he  wanted  to  see  him." 

Prince  Vasili  looked  questioningly  at  the  princess,  but 
he  could  not  make  out  whether  she  comprehended  what 
he  had  said  to  her  or  was  simply  looking  at  him. 

"  Cousin,  I  do  not  cease  to  pray  God  for  him,"  she 
replied,  "  that  He  will  pardon  him  and  grant  his  noble 
soul  a  peaceful  passage  from  this...." 


102  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"Yes,  of  course,"  hastily  interposed  Prince  Vasili, 
rubbing  his  bald  forehead  and  again  testily  drawing 
toward  him  the  table  that  he  had  just  pushed  away, 
"but  —  but  —  to  make  a  Jong  story  short,  this  is  what  I 
mean  :  you  yourself  know  that  last  winter  the  count 
signed  a  will  by  w^hich  all  his  property  was  left  to  Pierre, 
and  all  the  rest  of  us  were  left  out  in  the  cold." 

"  But  think  how  many  wills  he  has  made  !  "  replied 
the  princess,  calmly.  "  Besides,  he  can't  leave  his 
property  to  Pierre.     Pierre  is  illegitimate." 

"  My  dear  girl,"  said  Prince  Vasili,  suddenly  clutching 
the  table  in  his  excitement,  and  speaking  more  rapidly, 
"  but  supposing  a  letter  has  been  written  to  the  emperor, 
in  which  the  count  begs  to  have  Pierre  legitimatized  ? 
Don't  you  understand  that  in  view  of  the  count's  ser- 
vices his  petition  would  be  granted  .?".... 

The  princess  smiled  that  smile  of  superiority  peculiar 
to  people  who  think  they  know  more  about  any  matter 
than  those  with  whom  they  are  talking. 

**  I  will  tell  you,  moreover,"  pursued  Prince  Vasili, 
seizing  her  by  the  hand,  "  the  letter  has  been  written, 
but  it  has  not  been  sent  yet,  and  the  emperor  knows 
about  it.  The  question  is  merely  this :  has  it  been 
destroyed  or  not  .'*  If  not,  then,  as  soon  as  a//  is  over," 
—  Prince  Vasili  sighed,  giving  to  understand  what  he 
meant  to  convey  by  the  words  "a//  is  over"  —  "then 
the  count's  papers  will  be  opened,  the  will  and  the  letter 
will  be  handed  to  the  emperor,  and  the  petition  wdll  be 
undoubtedly  granted.  Pierre,  as  the  legitimate  son,  will 
inherit  all !  " 

"  But  our  share  .? "  demanded  the  princess,  smiling 
ironically,  as  if  all  things  except  this  were  possible. 

"  But,  my  poor  Katish,  it  is  as  clear  as  day.  Then 
he  will  be  the  only  legal  heir  and  will  have  the  whole, 
and  you  will  simply  get  nothing.  You  ought  to  know, 
my  dear,  whether  the  will  and  the  letter  have  been 
written,  or  whether  they  have  been  destroyed.  And  if 
they  have  been  forgotten,  then  you  ought  to  know  where 
they  are  and  to  find  them,  so  that ....  " 

"That's  the  last  feather!"  interrupted  the  princess, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  103 

smiling  sardonically,  and  not  varying  the  expression  of 
her  eyes.  '*  I  am  a  woman,  and  according  to  your  idea, 
all  of  us  women  are  stupid,  but  I  know  well  enough 
that  an  illegitimate  son  cannot  m\\^\\\.  ....  tin  bdtard !'' 
she  added,  with  the  intention  of  showing  the  prince,  by 
this  French  term,  conclusively  how  inconsistent  he  was. 

*'  Why  can't  you  understand,  Katish  !  You  are  so 
clever  !  Why  can't  you  understand  that  if  the  count 
has  written  a  letter  to  the  emperor  begging  him  to 
legitimatize  his  son,  of  course  Pierre  will  not  be  Pierre 
any  longer,  but  Count  Bezukhoi,  and  then  he  will 
inherit  the  whole  according  to  the  will .?  And  if  the 
will  and  the  letter  are  not  destroyed,  then  you  will  get 
nothing  except  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  you 
were  dutiful  and  brought  on  us  all  these  results !  That 
is  one  sure  thing  !  " 

'*  I  know  that  the  will  has  been  signed,  but  I  know 
also  that  it  is  not  good  for  anything,  and  it  seems  to 
me,  cousin,  that  you  take  me  for  a  perfect  fool,"  said 
the  princess,  with  that  expression  that  women  assume 
when  they  think  they  have  said  something  sharp  and 
insulting. 

"  My  dear  Princess  Katerina  Semyonovna,"  impa-^ 
tiently  reiterated  Prince  Vasili,  '*  I  did  not  come  with 
the  intention  of  having  a  controversy  with  you,  but  to 
talk  with  you  about  your  own  interests  as  with  a  rela- 
tive,—  a  kind,  good,  true  relative.  I  tell  you  for  the 
tenth  time  that  if  this  letter  to  the  emperor  and  the  will 
in  Pierre's  favor  are  among  the  count's  papers,  then 
you,  my  dear  little  dove,  will  not  inherit  anything,  nor 
your  sisters  either.  If  you  don't  believe  me,  then  ask 
somebody  who  does  know.  I  have  just  been  talking 
with  Dmitri  Onufriyitch,"  —  that  was  the  count's  lawyer, 
—  *'  and  he  says  the  same  thing." 

A  change  evidently  came  over  the  countess's  thoughts; 
her  thin  Hps  grew  white  (her  eyes  remained  the  same), 
and  her  voice  when  she  spoke  evidently  surprised  even 
herself  by  the  violence  of  its  gusty  outburst. 

"That  would  be  fine!"  said  she.  *' I  have  never 
desired  anything,  and  I  would  not  now."     She  brushed 


I04  WAR   AND    PEACE 

the  dog  from  her  lap  and  straightened  the  folds  of  her 
dress.  "  Here  is  gratitude,  here  's  recognition  for  all 
the  sacrifices  that  people  have  made  for  him!"  cried 
she.  "  Excellent !  Admirable  !  I  don't  need  anything, 
prince." 

"  Yes,  but  it  is  not  you  alone :  you  have  sisters," 
replied  Prince  Vasili. 

The  princess,  however,  did  not  heed  him, 

"  Yes,  I  have  known  for  a  long  time,  but  I  had  for- 
gotten it,  that  I  had  nothing  to  expect  in  this  house 
except  baseness,  deception,  envy,  intrigue ;  except  in- 
gratitude, the  blackest  ingratitude.".... 

"  Do  you  know  or  do  you  not  know  where  that  will 
is?"  asked  Prince  Vasili,  his  cheeks  twitching  even 
more  than  before. 

"  Yes,  I  was  stupid  ;  I  have  always  had  faith  in  people, 
and  loved  them,  and  sacrificed  myself.  But  those  only 
are  successful  who  are  base  ,and  low.  I  know  through 
whose  intrigues  this  came  about." 

The  princess  wanted  to  get  up,  but  the  prince  detained 
her  by  the  arm.  The  princess's  face  suddenly  took  on 
the  expression  of  one  who  has  become  soured  against 
the  whole  human  race ;  she  looked  angrily  at  her 
relative. 

"There  is  still  time  enough,  my  love.  You  must 
know,  my  dear  ICatish,  that  all  this  may  have  been  done 
hastily,  in  a  moment  of  pique,  of  illness,  and  then  for- 
gotten. Our  duty,  my  dear,  is  to  correct  his  mistake, 
to  soothe  his  last  moments,  so  that  he  cannot  in  decency 
commit  this  injustice ;  we  must  not  let  him  die  with  the 
idea  that  he  was  making  unhappy  those  who ....  " 

**  Those  who  have  sacrificed  everything  for  him," 
interrupted  the  princess,  taking  the  words  out  of  his 
mouth.  Again  she  tried  to  get  up,  but  still  the  prince 
would  not  allow  her.  "  And  he  has  never  had  the 
sense  to  perceive  it.  No,  cousin,"  she  added,  with  a 
sigh,  "  I  shall  yet  live  to  learn  that  it  is  idle  to  expect 
one's  reward  in  this  world ;  that  in  this  world  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  honor  or  justice ;  in  this  world  one 
must  be  shrewd  and  wicked." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  105 

"Well,  well,  now  calm  yourself;  I  know  your  good 
heart." 

"  No  ;  I  have  a  wicked  heart." 

"  I  know  your  heart,"  repeated  the  prince.  *'I  prize 
your  friendship,  and  I  could  wish  that  you  had  as  high 
an  opinion  of  me.  Now  calm  yourself  and  let  us  talk 
sensibly.  Now  is  the  time....  perhaps  a  few  hours,  per- 
haps a  few  moments ....  now  tell  me  all  you  know*  about 
this  will,  and  above  all  where  it  is ;  you  must  know. 
He  has  probably  forgotten  all  about  it.  Now  we  must 
take  it  and  show  it  to  the  count.  Probably  he  has  for- 
gotten all  about  it,  and  would  wish  it  tf>  be  destroyed. 
You  understand  that  my  sole  desire  is  sacredly  to  carry 
out  his  wishes,  and  that  is  why  I  came  here.  I  am 
here  only  to  help  him  and  you." 

*'  Now  I  understand  all.  I  know  whose  intrigues  it 
was.     I  know,"  said  the  princess. 

"  That  is  not  to  the  point,  my  dear  heart." 

''  It  is  your  protegee,  your  dear  Princess  Drubetskaya, 
Anna  Mikhai'lovna,  whom  I  would  not  take  for  my 
chambermaid,  - —  that  filthy,  vile  woman  !  " 

''  Let  us  not  lose  time,"  said  the  prince,  in  French. 

"  Akh  !  don't  speak  to  me.  Last  winter  she  sneaked 
in  here,  and  she  told  the  count  such  vile  things,  such 
foul  things,  about  all  of  us,  especially  about  Sophie,  — 
I  cannot  repeat  them,  —  so  that  the  count  was  taken  ill, 
and  for  two  weeks  would  not  see  any  of  us.  It  was  at 
that  time,  I  know,  that  he  wrote  that  nasty,  vile  paper, 
but  I  supposed  that  it  did  not  signify." 

''  That  is  just  the  point ;  why  have  n't  you  told  me 
before .'' " 

"  In  the  mosaic  portfolio  which  he  keeps  under  his 
pillow.  Now  I  know,"  again  went  on  the  princess. 
*'  Yes,  if  I  have  any  sins  on  my  soul,  my  greatest  sin 
is  my  hatred  of  that  horrid  woman,"  almost  cried  the 
princess,  her  face  all  convulsed.  "  And  why  did  she 
sneak  in  here  .-*  But  I  will  tell  her  my  whole  mind,  that 
I  will.     The  time  will  come !  " 


io6  WAR    AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   XXI 


While  these  various  conversations  were  going  on 
in  the  reception-room  and  in  the  princess's  apartment, 
the  carriage  with  Pierre  (who  had  been  sent  for)  and 
with  Anna  Mikhailovna  (who  found  it  essential  to  ac- 
company him)  drove  into  Count  Bezukhoi's  courtyard. 
When  the  carriage  wheels  rolled  noiselessly  in  on  the 
straw  scattered  under  the  windows,  Anna  Mikhailovna 
turned  to  her  companion  with  consoling  words,  but  was 
surprised  to  fiftd  him  asleep  in  the  corner  of  the  carriage. 
She  awakened  him,  and  he  followed  her  from  the  car- 
riage, and  then  for  the  first  time  he  thought  of  the 
meeting  with  his  dying  father  that  was  before  him. 

He  noticed  that  they  had  drawn  up,  not  at  the  state 
entrance,  but  at  the  rear  door.  Just  as  he  stepped  down 
from  the  carriage,  two  men  in  citizens'  clothes  skulked 
down  from  the  doorway  and  hid  in  the  shadow  of  the 
wall.  Stopping  a  moment  to  look  around,  he  saw  sev- 
eral other  similar  figures  on  both  sides  in  the  shadow. 
But  neither  Anna  Mikhailovna  nor  the  lackey  nor  the 
coachman,  though  they  could  not  have  helped  seeing 
these  men,  paid  any  attention  to  them. 

**  Why,  of  course  it  must  be  all  right,"  said  Pierre 
to  himself,  and  followed  Anna  Mikhailovna. 

Anna  Mikhailovna  with  hurried  steps  tripped  up  the 
dimly  lighted,  narrow  stone  stairway,  and  beckoned  to 
Pierre,  who  loitered  behind  her.  He  could  not  seem 
to  realize  why  it  was-  necessary  for  him  to  go  to  the 
count,  and  still  less  why  they  had  to  enter  by  the  rear 
door,  but  concluding  by  Anna  Mikhailovna's  assurance 
and  haste  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary,  he  decided 
to  follow  her. 

Half-way  up  the  stairs  they  almost  ran  into  some 
men  with  buckets,  who  came  clattering  down  and 
pressed  up  close  to  the  wall  to  let  them  pass,  but 
showed  not  the  slightest  surprise  to  see  them  there. 

"  Is  this  the  way  to  the  princesses'  apartments  ?  " 
asked  Anna  Mikhailovna  of  one  of  them. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  107 

"Yes,"  replied  the  lackey,  in  a  loud,  insolent  voice, 
as  if  now  anything  were  permissible.  "The  door  at 
the  left,  matushka." 

"  Perhaps  the  count  did  not  call  for  me,"  said  Pierre, 
when  they  reached  the  landing.  "  I  would  better  go 
to  my  room." 

Anna  Mikhailovna  waited  till  Pierre  overtook  her :  — 

"Ah,  my  dear,"  said  she,  laying  her  hand  on  his 
arm,  just  as  she  had  done  that  morning  to  her  son, 
"  believe  that  I  suffer  as  much  as  you,  but  be  a  man !  " 

"  Really,  had  I  better  go  .-* "  asked  Pierre,  looking 
affectionately  at  Anna  Mikhailovna  through  his  spec- 
tacles. 

"  Ah,  my  dear,"  said  she,  still  in  French,  "  forget, 
the  wrongs  that  may  have  been  done  you ;  remember 
he  is  your  father — ^perhaps  even  now  dying."  She 
sighed.  "  I  have  loved  you  from  the  very  first,  hke 
my  own  son.  Trust  in  me,  Pierre.  I  will  not  forget 
your  interests." 

Pierre  did  not  in  the  least  comprehend,  but  again 
with  even  more  force  it  came  over  him  that  all  this 
must  necessarily  be  so,  and  he  submissively  followed 
Anna  Mikhailovna,  who  had  already  opened  the  door. 

The  door  led  into  the  entry  of  the  rear  apartments. 
In  one  corner  sat  an  old  man-servant  of  the  princesses, 
knitting  a  stocking.  Pierre  had  never  before  been  in 
this  part  of  the  house ;  he  was  not  even  aware  of  the 
existence  of  such  rooms. 

Anna  Mikhailovna  spoke  to  a  maid  whom  she  saw 
hurrying  along  with  a  carafe  on  a  tray,  and  calling  her 
by  various  familiar  terms  of  endearment,  asked  how 
the  princesses  were,  and  at  the  same  time  beckoned 
Pierre  to  follow  her  along  the  stone  corridor. 

The  first  door  on  the  left  led  into  the  princesses' 
private  rooms.  The  chambermaid  with  the  carafe,  in 
her  haste  (everything  was  done  in  haste  at  this  time 
in  this  mansion),  failed  to  close  the  door,  and  Pierre 
and  Anna  Mikhailovna,  as  they  passed  by,  involun- 
tarily glanced  into  the  room,  where  sat  the  oldest  of 
the  nieces  in  close  conference  with  Prince  Vasili.     See- 


io8  WAR    AND    PEACE 

ing  them  passing,  Prince  Vasi'li  made  a  hasty  movement 
and  drew  himself  up ;  the  princess  sprang  to  her  feet, 
and  in  her  vexation  slammed  the  door  to  with  all  her 
might. 

This  action  was  so  unlike  the  princess's  habitual 
serenity,  the  apprehension  pictured  on  the  prince's 
face  was  so  contrary  to  his  ordinary  expression  of  self- 
importance,  that  Pierre  paused  and  looked  inquiringly 
at  his  guide  through  his  spectacles.  Anna  Mikhailovna 
manifested  no  surprise ;  she  merely  smiled  slightly  and 
sighed,  as  if  to  signify  that  all  this  was  to  be  expected. 

•'  Be  a  man,  my  dear !  I  will  watch  over  your  in- 
terests," said  she,  in  answer  to  his  glance,  and  tripped 
along  the  corridor  even  more  hastily  than  before. 

Pierre  did  not  comprehend  what  the  trouble  was  and 
still  less  her  words,  "watch  over  your  interests,"  but 
he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  all  this  must  be  so. 
They  went  from  the  corridor  into  a  dimly  lighted  hall 
which  adjoined  the  count's  reception-room.  It  was  one 
of  those  cold  and  magnificent  front  apartments  Pierre 
knew  so  well.  But  even  in  this  room,  right  in  the 
middle,  stood  a  forgotten  bath-tub,  from  which  the 
water  was  leaking  into  the  carpet.  A  servant,  and  a 
clergyman  carrying  a  censer,  came  toward  them  on 
their  tiptoes,  but  paid  no  attention  to  them.  Then  they 
entered  the  reception-room,  with  its  two  Italian  windows, 
its  door  leading  into  the  ''winter  garden,"  and  adorned 
with  a  colossal  bust  and  a  full-length  portrait  of  the 
Empress  Catherine. 

The  room  was  filled  with  the  same  people  in  almost 
the  same  attitudes,  sitting  and  whispering  together. 
They  all  stopped  talking,  and  stared  at  Anna  MikhaY- 
lovna  as  she  entered  with  her  pale,  tear-stained  face, 
followed  by  the  stout,  burly  Pierre,  submissively  hang- 
ing his  head. 

Anna  Mikhailovna's  face  expressed  the  consciousness 
that  a  decisive  moment  was  at  hand ;  and  with  the  bear- 
ing of  a  genuine  Petersburg  woman  of  affairs,  she 
marched  into  the  room,  not  allowing  Pierre  to  leave  her, 
and  showing  even  more  boldness  than  in  the  morning. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  109 

She  was  conscious  that,  as  she  was  bringing  the  person 
whom  the  dying  count  desired  to  see,  her  reception  was 
assured.  With  a  quick  glance  she  surveyed  all  that 
were  in  the  room,  and  perceiving  the  count's  priest,  she, 
without  exactly  courtesying  but  suddenly  diminishing  her 
stature,  sailed  with  a  mincing  gait  up  to  the  confessor 
and  respectfully  received  the  blessing  first  of  one  and 
then  of  the  other  priest. 

"Thank  God !  we  are  in  time,"  said  she  to  the  priest; 
"  we  are  his  relatives  and  were  so  much  alarmed  lest  we 
should  be  too  late.  This  young  man  here  is  —  the 
count's  son."  She  added,  in  a  lower  tone  —  "A  terrible 
moment." 

When  she  had  spoken  these  words,  she  went  over  to 
the  doctor :  — 

"  Dear  doctor,"  said  she  to  him,  "  this  young  man  is 
the  count's  son Is  there  any  hope  ?  " 

The  doctor,  silently,  with  a  quick  movement  shrugged 
his  shoulders  and  cast  his  eyes  upward.  Anna  Mikhai- 
lovna,  exactly  imitating  him,  also  raised  hers,  almost 
closing  them,  and  drew  a  deep  sigh ;  then  she  went 
from  the  doctor  to  Pierre.  She  addressed  him  very 
respectfully  and  affectionately,  with  a  shade  of  sadness. 

"  Have  confidence  in  His  mercy,"  said  she  in  French, 
pointing  him  to  a  small  divan  where  he  should  sit  and 
wait  for  her,  while  she  noiselessly  directed  her  steps 
toward  the  door  which  was  the  attraction  for  all  eyes, 
and,  noiselessly  opening  it,  disappeared  from  sight. 

Pierre,  making  up  his  mind  in  all  things  to  obey  his 
guide,  went  to  the  divanchik  which  she  had  pointed  out 
to  him.  As  soon  as  Anna  Mikhailovna  was  out  of 
sight,  he  noticed  that  the  eyes  of  all  that  were  in  the 
room  were  fastened  on  him  with  more  curiosity  than 
sympathy.  He  noticed  that  all  were  whispering  to- 
gether, nodding  toward  him  with  a  sort  of  aversion  and 
even  servility.  He  was  shown  a  degree  of  respect  which 
he  had  never  been  shown  before :  a  lady  whom  he  did 
not  know,  the  one  that  had  been  talking  with  the  two 
priests,  got  up  from  her  place  and  made  room  for  him 
to  sit  down ;  the  adjutant  picked  up  a  glove  which  he 


no  WAR    AND    PEACE 

had  dropped,  and  handed  it  to  him ;  the  doctors  pre- 
served a  respectful  silence  as  he  passed  by  them,  and 
fell  back  to  make  way  for  him. 

At  first,  Pierre  was  inclined  to  sit  down  in  another 
place  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  lady,  was  inclined  to  pick 
up  his  own  glove,  and  to  turn  out  for  the  doctors,  though 
they  were  not  at  all  in  his  way ;  but  on  second  thought, 
it  suddenly  occurred  to  him  that  this  would  not  be  be- 
coming ;  he  felt  that  this  night  he  was  a  person  expected 
to  fulfil  some  terrible  and  obligatory  ceremony,  and 
therefore  he  was  in  duty  bound  to  accept  the  services 
of  all  these  people. 

He  silently  received  the  glove  from  the  adjutant,  took 
the  lady's  place,  laying  his  huge  hands  on  his  evenly 
planted  knees  in  the  naive  poise  of  an  Egyptian  statue, 
and  saying  to  himself  that  all  this  was  just  as  it  was 
meant  to  be,  and  that,  lest  he  should  lose  his  presence 
of  mind  and  commit  some  absurdity,  it  behooved  him 
this  evening  above  all  to  give  up  all  idea  of  self-guid- 
ance, but  commit  himself  wholly  to  the  will  of  those  who 
assumed  the  direction  of  him. 

Not  two  minutes  had  passed,  when  Prince  Vasili  in 
his  kaftan,  with  three  stars  on  his  breast,  carrying  his 
head  majestically,  came  into  the  room.  He  seemed  thin- 
ner than  when  Pierre  had  last  seen  him  ;  his  eyes  opened 
larger  than  usual  when  he  glanced  about  the  room  and 
caught  sight  of  Pierre.  He  went  straight  up  to  him, 
took  his  hand  (a  thing  which  he  had  never  done  before), 
and  bent  it  down  as  if  trying  by  experiment  whether  it 
had  any  power  of  resistance. 

"  Courage,  courage,  my  dear  fellow  !  he  has  asked  to 
see  you.  That  is  good....  "  and  he  started  to  go  away. 
But  Pierre  felt  that  it  was  suitable  to  aek :  — 

"  How  is  he.'*  "  He  stammered,  not  knowing  exactly 
how  to  call  the  dying  count ;  he  was  ashamed  to  call 
him  father. 

"  He  had  another  stroke  half  an  hour  ago.  Courage, 
mon  ami." 

Pierre  was  in  such  a  dazed  condition  of  mind  that  at 
the  word  cou/>  he  imagined  that  some  one  had  hit  him. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  iii 

He  looked  at  Prince  Vasili  in  perplexity,  and  it  was  only 
after  some  time  that  he  was  able  to  gather  that  "  coup  " 
meant  an  attack  of  apoplexy. 

Prince  Vasili,  as  he  went  by,  said  a  few  words  to 
Lorrain,  and  went  into  the  bedroom  on  his  tiptoes. 
He  was  not  used  to  walking  on  his  tiptoes  and  his  whole 
body  jumped  awkwardly  as  he  walked.  He  was  imme- 
diately followed  by  the  oldest  princess ;  then  came 
the  confessor  and  priests ;  some  of  the  domestics 
also  passed  through  the  door.  There  was  heard  some 
stir  in  the  next  room,  and  finally  Anna  Mikhailovna, 
with  the  same  pale  countenance,  firmly  bent  on  the  ful- 
filment of  her  duties,  came  running  out,  and,  touching 
Pierre  on  the  arm,  said  :  "  The  goodness  of  God  is  inex- 
haustible ;  the  ceremony  of  divine  unction  is  about  to 
begin.     Come !  " 

Pierre  passed  into  the  room,  treading  on  the  soft  car- 
pet, and  noticed  that  the  adjutant  and  the  strange  lady 
and  one  more  of  the  servants  all  followed  him,  as  if  now 
it  were  no  longer  necessary  to  ask  permission  to  go  in. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

Pierre  well  knew  this  great  room,  divided  by  columns 
and  an  arch,  and  all  hung  with  Persian  tapestries.  The 
part  of  the  chamber  behind  the  columns,  where  on  one 
side  stood  a  high  mahogany  bedstead  with  silken  cur- 
tains, and  on  the  other  a  monstrous  Hot  or  shrine  with 
images,  was  all  brightly  and  beautifully  lighted,  just 
as  churches  are  usually  lighted  for  evening  service. 

Under  the  glittering  decorations  of  this  shrine  stood 
a  long  Voltaire  reclining-chair,  and  in  the  chair,  sup- 
ported by  snowy-white  unruffled  cushions,  apparently 
only  just  changed,  lay  the  majestic  form  of  Pierre's 
father,  Count  Bezukhoi,  with  his  hair  heaped  up  on  his 
lofty  forehead  like  a  lion's  mane,  as  Pierre  remembered 
it  so  well,  and  the  same  strong  deep  wrinkles  on  his 
handsome,  aristocratic  face,  reddish  yellow  in  color. 
He  was  wrapped  to  the  waist  in  a  bright  green  quilt, 


112  WAR   AND    PEACE 

and  lay  directly  under  the  holy  pictures  ;  both  of  his 
great  stout  arms  were  uncovered  and  lay  on  the  quilt. 
In  his  right  hand,  which  lay  palm  down,  a  wax  taper 
was  placed  between  the  thumb  and  forefinger,  and  an 
old  servant,  bending  over  the  chair,  held  it  upright. 

Around  the  chair  stood  the  clergy  in  their  magnifi- 
cent glittering  robes,  with  their  long  locks  streaming 
down  over  their  shoulders,  with  lighted  tapers  in  their 
hands,  performing  their  functions  with  slow  solemnity. 

A  little  back  of  them  stood  the  two  younger  princesses 
with  handkerchiefs  in  their  hands,  pressed  to  their  eyes, 
and  just  in  front  of  them  was  the  oldest  sister,  Katish, 
with  a  spiteful  resolute  expression,  not  for  a  moment  let- 
ting her  eyes  wander  from  the  ikon,  as  if  she  were  saying 
to  all  that  she  would  not  be  responsible  for  her  actions 
if  she  looked  around. 

Anna  Mikhailovna,  with  an  expression  of  sanctified 
grief  and  universal  forgiveness  on  her  face,  stood  near 
the  door  with  the  strange  lady.  Prince  Vasili,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  door,  nearer  the  count,  stood  behind  a 
carved  chair,  upholstered  in  velvet,  which  he  had  turned 
back  to  and  was  leaning  on  it  his  left  hand  with  a  ':r.per, 
and  crossing  himself  with  his  right  hand,  raising  his 
eyes  each  time  that  his  fingers  touched  his  forehead. 
His  face  expressed  calm  devoutness  and  submission  to 
the  will  of  God.  "  If  you  cannot  comprehend  these 
feelings,  so  much  the  worse  for  you,"  his  countenance 
seemed  to  say. 

Behind  him  stood  the  adjutant,  the  doctors,  and  the 
men-servants ;  just  as  in  church,  the  men  and  women 
took  opposite  sides.  No  one  spoke  ;  all  kept  crossing 
themselves  ;  the  only  sound  was  the  reading  of  the  ser- 
vice, the  low  subdued  chanting  of  the  priests'  deep  bass, 
and  during  the  intervals  of  silence  the  restless  movement 
of  feet  and  deep  sighs. 

Anna  Mikhailovna,  with  that  significant  expression  of 
countenance  that  showed  she  knew  what  she  was  doing, 
crossed  the  whole  width  of  the  chamber  to  where  Pierre 
was  and  gave  him  a  taper.  He  lighted  it,  and  then, 
growing  confused  under  the  glances  of   those    around 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


113 


him,  began  to  cross  himself  with  the  hand  that  held  the 
taper. 

The  youngest  of  the  sisters,  the  rosy  and  fun-loving 
princess  Sophie,  the  one  with  the  mole,  was  looking  at 
him.  She  smiled  and  hid  her  face  in  her  handkerchief, 
and  did  not  expose  it  for  some  time ;  whenever  she 
caught  sight  of  Pierre,  her  amusement  again  overcame 
her.  Then,  evidently  feeling  that  she  had  not  the  self- 
control  sufficient  to  allow  her  to  look  at  him  without 
smiling  and  that  she  could  not  keep  from  looking  at 
him,  she  fled  from  temptation  by  quietly  retreating  be- 
hind a  column. 

In  the  midst  of  the  service  the  voices  of  the  clergy 
suddenly  ceased,  the  priests  whispered  something  to 
one  another ;  the  old  waiting-man  who  held  the  candle 
in  the  count's  hand  straightened  up  and  went  over  to 
the  ladies'  side.  Anna  Mikhailovna  stepped  forward, 
and  bending  over  the  sick  man,  beckoned  to  Dr. 
Lorrain  without  turning  round.  The  French  doctor 
had  been  standing  without  a  lighted  taper,  leaning 
against  one  of  the  pillars,  in  that  reverent  attitude  by 
which  one  who,  though  a  stranger  and  belonging  to  a 
different  communion,  shows  that  he  appreciates  all  the 
solemnity  of  the  ceremony  and  even  assents  to  it.  With 
the  noiseless  steps  of  a  man  possessed  of  perfect  vigor 
he  answered  Anna  Mikhailovna's  call,  went  over  to  the 
sick  man,  lifted  in  his  white,  slender  fingers  the  hand 
that  lay  on  the  green  quilt,  and  bending  over,  began  to 
count  the  pulse  and  grew  grave. 

Something  was  given  to  the  invalid  to  drink,  there 
w^s  a  slight  stir  about  him ;  then  once  more  they  all 
took  their  places  and  the  service  proceeded. 

At  the  time  of  this  interruption,  Pierre  noticed  that 
Prince  Vasi'li  left  his  position  behind  the  carved  chair, 
and,  with  an  expression  of  countenance  that  seemed  to 
say  that  he  knew  what  he  was  doing,  and  that  it  was  so 
much  the  worse  for  others  if  they  did  not  understand  him, 
went,  not  to  the  sick  man,  but  past  him,  and  being  joined 
by  the  oldest  of  the  princesses,  retired  with  her  into  the 
depths  .of  the  alcove,  to  the  high  bedstead   under  the 

VOL.  I.  —  8 


114  WAR    AND    PEACE 

silken  hangings.  From  there  both  the  prince  and  the 
princess  disappeared  through  a  rear  door,  but  before 
the  end  of  the  service  both  resumed  their  places,  one 
after  the  other.  Pierre  gave  this  strange  action  no 
more  thought  than  to  anything  else,  having  once  for  all 
made  up  his  mind  that  all  that  took  place  that  evening 
was  absolutely  essential. 

The  sounds  of  the  church  chant  ceased,  the  voice  of 
the  priest  was  heard  respectfully  congratulating  the 
sick  man  on  his  having  received  the  mystery.  The 
count  lay  as  before,  motionless,  and  apparently  lifeless. 
Around  him  there  was  a  stir ;  footsteps  and  a  whisper- 
ing were  heard ;  Anna  Mikhailovna's  voice  could  be 
distinguished  above  the  rest.  Pierre  listened,  and  heard 
her  say  :  — 

"He  must  be  carried  instantly  to  bed;  it  will  never 
do  in  the  world  for  him  here  to ....  " 

The  doctors,  princesses,  and  servants  crowded  around 
the  invalid  so  that  Pierre  could  no  longer  see  that  red- 
dish-yellow face  with  the  gray  mane  of  hair,  which  ever 
since  the  service  began  had  constantly  filled  his  vision 
to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else.  He  surmised  by 
the  guarded  movements  of  those  who  crowded  around 
the  arm-chair  that  they  were  lifting  and  carrying  the 
dying  man. 

"  Hold  by  my  arm !  You  '11  drop  him  so,"  said  one 
of  the  servants  in  a  frightened  whisper.  "  Take  him 
lower  down  !  "  **  One  more,"  said  different  voices,  and 
the  labored  breathing,  and  shuffling  of  feet  growing 
more  hurried,  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  load  that  the 
men  were  carrying  was  beyond  their  strength. 

As  the  bearers,  among  their  number  Anna  MikhaY- 
lovna,  came  opposite  the  young  man,  he  caught  a  mo- 
mentary glimpse,  over  their  heads  and  backs,  of  his 
father's  strong,  full  chest  uncovered,  his  stout  shoulders, 
lifted  above  the  people  carrying  him  under  their  arms, 
and  his  leonine  head  with  its  curly  mane.  The  face, 
with  its  extraordinary  high  forehead  and  cheek-bones, 
handsome,  sensitive  mouth,  and  majestic,  cold  eyes, 
was  undisfigured  by  the  nearness  of  death.     It  was  just 


P  WAR    AND    PEACE  115 

the  same  as  when  PiQrre  had  seen  it  three  months  pre- 
viously when  the  count  sent  him  to  Petersburg.  But 
the  head  rolled  helplessly  under  the  uneven  steps  of  the 
bearers,  and  the  cold,  indifferent  eyes  gave  no  sign  of 
recognition. 

There  followed  a  few  moments  of  bustle  around  the 
high  bedstead ;  those  who  had  been  carrying  the  sick 
man  withdrew.  Anna  Mikhailovna  touched  Pierre  on 
the  arm  and  said,  ''  Come." 

Pierre  went  with  her  to  the  bed  whereon  the  sick 
man  had  been  placed  in  solemn  attitude,  evidently  in 
some  manner  connected  with  the  sacrament  just  accom- 
plished. He  lay  with  his  head  propped  high  on  pillows. 
His  hands  were  placed  side  by  side,  palm  downward, 
on  the  green  silk  quilt.  As  Pierre  went  to  him,  the 
count  was  looking  straight  at  him,  but  his  look  had 
a  meaning  and  significance  which  it  is  impossible  for  a 
man  to  read.  Either  that  look  had  simply  nothing  to 
say  and  merely  fastened  upon  him  because  those  eyes 
must  needs  look  at  something,  or  they  had  too  much  to 
say. 

Pierre  paused,  not  knowing  what  was  expected  of 
him,  and  glanced  inquiringly  at  his  guide.  Anna  Mi- 
khailovna made  him  a  hasty  motion  with  her  eyes  toward 
the  sick  man's  hand,  and  with  her  lips  signified  that  he 
should  kiss  it.  Pierre  bent  over  carefully  so  as  not  to 
disturb  the  quilt,  and  in  accordance  with  her  advice 
touched  his  lips  to  the  broad,  brawny  hand.  Neither 
the  hand  nor  a  muscle  of  the  count's  face  moved. 
Pierre  again  looked  questioningly  at  Anna  Mikhailovna 
to  find  what  he  should  do  next.  She  signed  to  him 
with  her  eyes  to  sit  down  in  an  arm-chair  which  stood 
near  the  bed.  Pierre  submissively  sat  down,  his  eyes 
mutely  asking  if  he  were  doing  the  right  thing.  Anna 
Mikhailovna  approvingly  nodded  her  head.  Pierre 
again  assumed  the  symmetrically  simple  attitude  of  the 
Egyptian  statue,  and  evidently  really  suffered  because 
his  awkward,  huge  frame  took  up  so  much  space,  though 
he  strove  with  all  his  might  to  make  it  seem  as  small  as 
possible. 


ii6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

He  looked  at  the  count.  The  count  was  staring  at 
the  spot  where  Pierre  had  just  been  standing.  Anna 
Mikhailovna  showed  by  her  actions  that  she  reaUzed 
the  pathetic  importance  of  this  final  meeting  of  father 
and  son.  This  lasted  two  minutes,  which  seemed  an 
hour  to  Pierre.  Suddenly  a  tremor  appeared  in  the 
deep,  powerful  muscles  and  lines  of  the  count's  face. 
It  grew  more  pronounced ;  the  handsome  mouth  was 
drawn  to  one  side  (this  caused  Pierre  for  the,  first  time 
to  realize  how  near  to  death  his  father  was)  and  from 
the  drawn  mouth  proceeded  an  indistinguishable  hoarse 
sound. 

Anna  Mikhailovna  looked  anxiously  into  the  sick 
man's  eyes  and  tried  to  make  out  what  he  wanted, 
pointing  first  at  Pierre,  then  at  the  tumbler ;  then  she 
asked  in  a  whisper  if  she  should  call  Prince  Vasili,  then 
pointed  at  the  quilt.  The  sick  man's  face  and  eyes  ex- 
pressed impatience.  He  mustered  force  enough  to  look 
at  the  man-servant  who  never  left  his  master's  bed- 
side. 

''He  wants  to  be  turned  over  on  the  other  side," 
whispered  the  servant,  and  proceeded  to  lift  and  turn 
the  count's  heavy  body,  face  to  the  wall. 

Pierre  got  up  to  help  the  servant. 

Just  as  they  were  turning  the  count  over,  one  of  his 
arms  fell  back  helplessly,  and  he  made  a  futile  effort  to 
raise  it.  Did  the  count  notice  the  look  of  terror  in 
Pierre's  face  at  the  sight  of  that  lifeless  arm  ?  or  did 
some  other  thought  flash  across  his  dying  brain  at  that 
moment  ?  At  all  events,  he  looked  at  his  disobedient 
hand,  then  at  Pierre's  terror-stricken  face,  and  back  to 
his  hand  again,  and  over  his  lips  played  a  martyr's  weak 
smile,  out  of  character  with  his  powerful  features,  and 
seeming  to  express  a  feeling  of  scorn  for  his  own  lack 
of  strength. 

At  the  sight  of  this  smile,  Pierre  unexpectedly  felt  an 
oppression  around  the  heart,  a  strange  pinching  in  his 
nose,  and  the  tears  dimmed  his  eyes. 

The  sick  man  lay  on  his  side  toward  the  wall.  He 
drew  a  long  sigh. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  117 

"  He  is  going  to  sleep,"  said  Anna  Mikhailovna,  to  one 
of  the  nieces  who  returned  to  watch.  "  Let  us  leave 
him." 

Pierre  left  the  room. 

CHAPTER   XXHI 

There  was  no  one  in  the  reception-room  except  Prince 
Vasili  and^the  oldest  princess,  and  these  two  were  sitting 
under  the  empress's  portrait,  talking  eagerly  about  some- 
thing. As  soon  as  they  caught  sight  of  Pierre  and  his 
guide,  they  stopped,  and  it  seemed  to  the  young  man 
that  the  princess  hid  something  and  whispered  :  — 

"  I  cannot  abide  the  sight  of  that  woman." 

"  Katish  has  had  tea  made  in  the  little  drawing-room," 
said  Prince  Vasili  in  French,  addressing  Anna  Mikhaf- 
lovna.  "  Come,  my  poor  Anna  Mikhailovna,  you  had 
better  take  something  to  eat ;  else  you  might  be  the 
worse  for  it." 

He  said  nothing  to  Pierre,  but  gave  his  arm  a  sympa- 
thetic pressure  just  below  the  shoulder.  Pierre  and 
Anna  Mikhailovna  went  into  what  he  called  le petit  salon. 

"  There  is  nothing  so  refreshing  as  a  cup  of  this  ex- 
cellent Russian  tea,  after  a  sleepless  night,"  said  Dr. 
Lorrain,  with  an  expression  of  restrained  liveHness,  as 
he  stood  in  the  small,  circular  drawing-room,  sipping  his 
tea  from  a  delicate  porcelain  cup.  Just  back  of  him  was 
a  table  with  the  tea  service  and  a  cold  supper.  Around 
the  table  were  gathered  for  refreshments  all  those  who 
were  spending  this  night  in  Count  Bezukhoi's  mansion. 

Pierre  well  remembered  this  little  circular  drawing- 
room,  with  its  mirrors  and  small  tables.  In  days  gone 
by,  when  the  count  gave  balls,  Pierre,  who  did  not  know 
how  to  dance,  liked  to  sit  in  this  little  room  of  mirrors 
and  watch  the  ladies  in  their  ball  toilets,  with  diamonds 
and  pearls  on  their  bare  necks,  as  they  passed  through, 
glance  at  themselves  in  the  brightly  illuminated  mirrors, 
which  reflected  back  their  beauties. 

Now,  the  room  was  dimly  lighted  by  a  pair  of  candles, 
and  at  this  midnight  hour  there  stood  on  one  of  the 


ii8  WAR    AND    PEACE 

small  tables  a  disorderly  array  of  tea-things,  while  a 
Qiotley  throng  of  people  in  anything  but  ball  dresses 
were  scattered  about  in  it  talking  in  whispers,  by  every 
motion,  every  word,  evincing  how  little  they  could  forget 
what  was  now  taking  place  or  going  to  take  place  in 
that  chamber  of  death. 

Pierre  did  not  eat  anything,  though  he  was  very  hun- 
gry. He  glanced  inquiringly  at  his  guide,  and  saw  that 
she  was  tiptoeing  back  to  the  reception-room,  where  they 
had  left  Prince  Vasi'li  and  the  oldest  niece.  Pierre  took 
it  for  granted  that  this,  also,  was  as  it  should  be,  and 
after  waiting  a  little  while,  he  followed  her. 

Anna  Mikhailovna  was  standing  in  front  of  the  young 
lady,  and  both  were  talking  at  once  in  angry  under- 
tones. 

"  Permit  me,  princess,  to  decide  what  is  necessary 
and  what  is  not  necessary,"  the  Princess  Katish  was 
saying,  evidently  still  in  the  same  angry  frame  of  mind 
as  she  had  been  when  she  slammed  the  door  of  her 
room. 

'*  But,  my  dear  young  princess,"  said  Anna  Mikhai- 
lovna, in  a  sweet  but  conclusive  manner,  barring  the 
way  to  the  count's  chamber,  and  not  allowing  the  young 
lady  to  pass,  "will  this  not  be  too  great  an  effort  for 
poor  uncle  at  this  time,  when  he  so  much  needs  rest  ^ 
At  this  time  any  conversation  about  worldly  matters, 
when  his  soul  has  already  been  prepared....  " 

Prince  Vasili  still  sat  in  the  arm-chair  in  his  familiar 
posture,  with  one  leg  thrown  over  the  other.  His  cheeks 
twitched  violently,  and  seemed  to  grow  flabbier  than 
usual,  but  he  preserved  the  attitude  of  a  man  to  whom 
the  altercation  of  the  two  women  was  of  no  conse- 
quence. 

"  Come,  my  good  Anna  Mikhailovna,  let  Katish  have 
her  way.     You  know  how  fond  the  count  is  of  her." 

"I  don't  even  know  what  is  in  this  paper,"  said  the 
young  princess,  turning  to  Prince  Vasili,  and  pointing 
to  the  mosaic  portfolio  which  she  had  in  her  hand.  "  I 
only  know  that  his  last  will  is  in  his  bureau,  but  this  is 
a  paper  which  he  has  forgotten." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  119 

She  tried  to  pass  by  Anna  Mikhaflovna,  but  Anna 
Mikhaiiovna,  springing  forward,  again  barred  her  way. 

*'  I  know,  my  dear  good  princess,"  said  Anna  Mi- 
khaflovna, grabbing  the  portfolio,  and  so  firmly  that  it 
was  evident  she  would  not  let  go  in  a  hurry.  "  My  dear 
princess,  I  beg  of  you,  I  beseech  you,  have  pity  upon 
him.    Je  voiis  en  conjured 

The  young  princess  said  not  a  word.  All  that  was 
heard  was  the  noise  of  the  struggle  for  the  possession 
of  the  portfolio. 

It  was  plain  to  see  that  if  she  had  opened  her  mouth 
to  speak,  what  she  said  would  not  have  been  flattering 
for  Anna  Mikhaiiovna.  The  latter  clung  to  the  port- 
folio unflinchingly,  but  nevertheless  her  voice  preserved 
all  its  softness,  sweetness,  and  gentleness. 

"  Pierre,  my  dear,  come  here.  I  think  he  will  hot  be 
in  the  way  in  this  family  council,  will  he,  prince .?  " 

"Why  don't  you  speak,  cousin.!'"  suddenly  cried  the 
young  princess,  so  loud  that  those  in  the  little  drawing- 
room  heard  it,  and  were  startled.  *'  Why  don't  you 
speak,  when  this  impertinent  creature  permits  herself 
to  meddle  in  matters  that  don't  concern  her,  and  make 
scenes  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  death-chamber ! 
•  hitrigantka  !''  she  hissed  in  a  loud  whisper,  and  snatched 
at  the  portfolio  with  all  her  force ;  but  Anna  Mikhat- 
lovna  took  two  or  three  steps  forward  so  as  not  to  let 
go  her  hold  of  it,  and  succeeded  in  keeping  it  in  her 
hand. 

"  Oh  !  "  cried  Prince  Vasili,  with  a  look  of  surprise 
and  reproach.     He  stood  up. 

"■  It  is  absurd  !     Come,  now,  let  go,  I  tell  you  !  " 

The  Princess  Katish  obeyed.     "  You,  also  !  " 

Anna  Mikhaiiovna  paid  no  attention  to  him. 

**  Drop  it,  I  tell  you.  I  will  assume  the  whole  respon- 
sibility. I  will  go  and  ask  him.  I ....  That  ought 
to  satisfy  you." 

"  But,  prince,"  said  Anna  Mikhaiiovna,  *'  after  this 
great  mystery  allow  him  a  moment  of  rest.  Here, 
Pierre,  give  us  your  opinion,"  said  she,  turning  to' the 
young   man,    who,    coming    close   to   them,    looked    in 


I20  WAR   AND    PEACE 

amazement  at  the  young  princess's  angry  face,  from 
which  all  dignity  had  departed,  and  at  Prince  Vasfli's 
twitching  cheeks. 

**  Remember  that  you  will  answer  for  all  the  conse- 
quences," said  Prince  Vasili,  angrily;  "you  don't  know 
what  you  are  doing." 

"  You  vile  woman,"  screamed  the  young  princess, 
unexpectedly  darting  at  Anna  Mikhailovna,  and  snatch- 
ing away  the  portfolio.  Prince  Vasili  hung  his  head 
and  spread  open  his  hands. 

At  this  juncture  the  door,  that  terrible  door  at  which 
Pierre  had  been  looking  so  long,  and  which  was  usually 
opened  so  gently,  was  hastily  and  noisily  flung  back,  so 
that  it  struck  against  the  wall,  and  the  second  sister 
rushed  out,  wringing  her  hands. 

"What  are  you  doing.?"  she  cried,  in  despair.  "He 
is  dying,  and  you  leave  me  alone." 

The  Princess  Katerina  dropped  the  portfolio.  Anna 
Mikhailovna  hastily  bent  over,  and,  picking  up  the  pre- 
cious object,  hastened  into  the  death-chamber.  The 
Princess  Katerina  and  Prince  Vasili,  coming  to  their 
senses,  followed  her.  In  a  few  moments  Princess  Ka- 
terina came  out  again,  the  first  of  all,  with  a  pale,  stern 
face,  and  biting  her  lower  lip.  At  the  sight  of  Pierre 
her  face  expressed  uncontrollable  hatred. 

"  Yes,  now  you  can  swell  round,"  said  she.  "  You 
have  been  waiting  for  this,"  and,  beginning  to  sob,  she 
hid  her  face  in  her  handkerchief  and  ran  from  the  room. 

The  princess  was  followed  by  Prince  Vasili.  Reel- 
ing a  little  he  went  to  the  sofa  on  which  Pierre  was 
sitting,  and  flung  himself  on  it,  covering  his  face  with 
his  hands.  Pierre  noticed  that  he  was  pale,  and  that 
his  lower  jaw  trembled  and  shook  as  if  from  an  attack 
of  ague. 

"  Ahr,  my  friend,"  said  he,  taking  Pierre  by  the  elbow, 
and  there  was  in  his  voice  a  sincerity  and  gentleness 
which  Pierre  had  never  before  noticed  in  it  "  How  we 
sin  and  how  we  cheat  and  all  for  what  ?     I  am  sixty 

years  old,  my  dear Look  at  me Death  is  the 

end  of  all,  all !     Death  is  horrible !  " 


WAR   AND    PEACE  121 

He  burst  into  tears. 

Anna  Mikhailovna  came  out.  last  of  all.  She  went 
straight  up  to  Pierre,  with  slow,  quiet  steps  :  — 

"■  Pierre  !  "  said  she. 

Pierre  looked  at  her  inquiringly.  She  kissed  the 
young  man  on  the  forehead,  which  she  wet  with  her 
tears.     Then  after  a  silence  she  added  :  — 

"He  is  dead." 

Pierre  looked  at  her  through  his  glasses. 

"  Come,  I  will  lead  you  away.  Try  to  weep.  Nothing 
is  so  consoling  as  tears." 

She  led  him  into  the  dark  drawing-room,  and  Pierre 
was  relieved  that  no  one  was  there  to  see  his  face. 
Anna  Mikhailovna  left  him  there,  and  when  she  re- 
turned he  was  sound  asleep,  with  his  head  resting  on 
his  arm. 

The  next  morning,  Anna  Mikhailovna  said  to  Pierre 
in  French  :  — 

"  Yes,  my  dear,  it  is  a  great  loss  for  all  of  us.  I  am 
not  speaking  of  you.  But  God  will  give  you  support ; 
you  are  young,  and  at  the  head  of  an  immense  fortune, 
I  hope.  The  will  has  not  been  opened  yet.  I  know 
you  well  enough  to  believe  that  this  will  not  turn  your 
head,  but  new  duties  will  devolve  upon  you,  and  you 
must  be  a  man." 

Pierre  made  no  reply. 

''  Perhaps  later  I  will  tell  you,  my  dear,  that  if  I  had 
not  been  here, ....  God  knows  what  might  have  happened. 
You  know  uncle,  only  the  day  before,  promised  me  that 
he  would  not  forget  Boris.  But  he  did  not  have  the 
time ;  I  hope,  my  dear  friend,  that  you  will  fulfil  your 
father's  desire." 

Pierre  entirely  failed  to  see  what  she  was  driving  at, 
and,  without  saying  anything  and  reddening  with  morti- 
fication, looked  at  the  Princess  Anna  Mikhailovna. 
Having  thus  spoken  with  Pierre,  she  drove  back  to  the 
Rostofs'  and  lay  down  to  rest.  After  her  nap,  that  same 
morning,  she  began  to  tell  the  Rostofs  and  all  her 
acquaintances  the  particulars  of  the  death  of  Count 
Bezukhoi. 


122  WAR    AND    PEACE 

She  declared  that  the  count  had  died  as  she  herself 
would  wish  to  die,  that  his  end  had  been  not  only 
pathetic  but  even  edifying  ;  the  last  meeting  of  father 
and  son  had  been  so  touching  that  she  could  not  think 
of  it  without  tears,  and  that  she  could  not  tell  which 
had  borne  himself  with  the  more  composure  during  these 
dreadful  moments,  the  father  who  had  had  a  thought 
for  everything  and  every  one  during  those  last  hours, 
and  had  spoken  such  affectionate  and  touching  words 
to  his  son,  or  Pierre,  whom  it  was  pitiful  to  see,  he  was 
so  overcome,  and  yet  in  spite  of  it  struggled  so  manfully 
to  hide  his  grief,  so  as  not  to  pain  bis  dying  father. 

"Such  scenes  are  painful,  but  they  do  one  good;  it  is 
elevating  to  the  soul  to  see  such  men  as  the  old  count 
and  his  worthy  son." 

She  also  spoke  of  the  actions  of  the  Princess  Katerina 
and  Prince  Vasili,  but  in  terms  of  reprobation,  and 
under  the  promise  of  the  strictest  secrecy. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

The  arrival  of  the  young  Prince  Andrei  and  his  wife 
at  Luisiya  Gorui  (Bald  Hills),  Prince  Nikolai'  Andreye- 
vitch  Bolkonsky's  estate,  was  daily  expected.  But  this 
made  no  break  at  all  in  the  strenuous  routine  according 
to  which  life  in  the  old  prince's  mansion  was  regulated. 
Prince  Nikolai"  Andreyevitch,  a  former  general-in-chief, 
called  in  society  le  roi  de  Priisse,  had  been  banished  to 
his  estates  during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Paul,  and 
had  lived  like  a  hermit  there  ever  since  with  his  daughter, 
the  Princess  Mariya,  and  her  hired  companion.  Mile. 
Bourienne. 

Even  after  the  new  reign  had  begun,  although  he 
was  free  to  go  wherever  he  pleased,  he  still  continued 
to  live  exclusively  in  the  country,  saying  that  if  any  one 
wanted  him,  it  was  only  half  a  hundred  versts  from 
Moscow  to  Luisiya  Gorui,  and  he  himself  wanted 
nothing  and  nobody. 

He  declared  that  there  were    only  two    sources   of 


WAR   AND    PEACE  123 

human  vice,  idleness  and  superstition ;  and  only  two 
drtues,  activity  and  intelligence. 

He  himself  undertook  his  daughter's  education,  and 
in  order  to  inculcate  both  these  virtues  he  had  given 
her  lessons  up  to  the  age  of  twenty  in  algebra  and 
geometry,  and  had  apportioned  her  life  into  an  uninter- 
rupted system  of  occupations. 

He  was  constantly  engaged  in  writing  his  memoirs, 
or  in  solving  problems  in  the  higher  mathematics,  or  in 
turning  snuff-boxes  on  a  lathe,  or  in  working  in  his  gar- 
den and  superintending  the  erection  of  buildings  which 
were  always  going  up  on  his  estate.  As  the  chief  con- 
dition of  activity  is  order,  order  in  his  scheme  of  life 
was  carried  to  the  last  degree  of  minuteness.  His 
appearance  at  meals  invariably  took  place  under  the 
same  circumstances,  and  at  not  only  the  same  hour  but 
the  same  moment  each  day. 

The  prince  was  sharp  and  scrupulously  exacting  with 
the  people  around  him,  from  his  daughter  to  the  hum- 
blest menial,  and  therefore,  while  he  was  not  cruel,  he 
inspired  an  awe  and  deference  such  as  it  would  have 
been  difficult  for  even  the  crudest  man  to  exact. 

Although  he  was  living  in  seclusion,  and  had  now  no 
influence  in  matters  of  state,  every  nachalnik  of  the 
government  in  which  he  lived  considered  it  his  duty  to 
pay  his  respects  to  him,  and,  precisely  the  same  as  the 
architect  or  the  gardener  or  the  Princess  Mariya,  waited 
the  designated  hour  for  the  prince's  appearance  in  the 
lofty  hall.  And  each  one  of  those  waiting  in  this  hall 
experienced  the  same  feeling  of  awe  and  fear  as  soon  as 
the  massive  door  of  his  cabinet  swung  open,  and  the 
form  of  the  little  old  man  appeared,  in  his  powdered  wig, 
with  his  small,  dry  hands  and  pendulous  gray  eyebrows, 
which  sometimes  when  he  frowned  concealed  the  gleam 
of  his  keen  and  youthfully  glittering  eyes. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  when  the  young  couple 
were  expected,  the  Princess  Mariya,  as  usual,  at  the 
regular  hour,  came  down  into  the  hall  to  wish  her  father 
good-morning,  and  with  fear  and  trembling  crossed  her- 
self and  repeated  an  inward  prayer.     Each  morning  she 


124  WAR   AND    PEACE 

came  the  same  way,  and  each  morning  she  prayed  that 
their  daily  meeting  might  be  propitious. 

An  aged  servant  in  a  powdered  wig,  who  was  sitting 
in  the  hall,  got  up  quietly  and  addressed  her  in  a  re- 
spectful whisper  :  "  I  beg  of  you." 

Beyond  the  door  could  be  heard  the  monotonous  hum 
of  the  lathe.  The  princess  timidly  opened  the  door, 
which  moved  easily  and  noiselessly  on  its  hinges,  and 
stood  at  the  entrance.  The  prince  was  working  at  his 
lathe.  He  looked  round  and  then  went  on  with  his 
work. 

The  great  cabinet  was  full  of  things,  apparently  in 
constant  use :  a  huge  table,  whereon  lay  books  and 
plans;  the  lofty  bookcases,  with  keys  in  the  mirror-lined 
doors  ;  a  high  reading-desk  on  which  lay  an  opened  copy- 
book ;  a  cabinet-maker's  lathe,  with  various  kinds  of 
tools  and  shavings  and  chips  scattered  around,  —  all 
this  indicated  a  constant,  varied,  and  regular  activity. 

By  the  motion  of  his  small  foot,  shod  Tatar  fashion 
in  a  silver-embroidered  boot,  by  the  firm  pressure  of  his 
sinewy,  thin  hand,  it  could  be  seen  that  the  prince  had 
still  the  tenacious  and  not  easily  impaired  strength  of  a 
green  old  age. 

Having  made  a  few  more  turns,  he  took  his  foot  from 
the  treadle  of  the  lathe,  wiped  his  chisel,  put  it  in  a 
leather  pocket  attached  to  the  lathe,  and  going  to  the 
table  called  his  daughter  to  him.  He  never  wasted 
caresses  on  his  children,  and  therefore,  merely  offering 
his  bristly  cheek,  which  had  not  as  yet  been  shaven  for 
the  day,  he  said,  with  a  severe  and  at  the  same  time 
keenly  affectionate  look  :  — 

*'  Are  you  well  ? ....     Now  then,  sit  down." 

He  took  a  copy-book  of  geometrical  work  written  out 
in  his  own  hand,  and  pushed  his  chair  along  with  his 
foot. 

"  For  to-morrow,"  said  he,  briskly,  turning  the  page, 
and  marking  the  paragraphs  with  his  stiff  nail.  The 
princess  leaned  over  the  table  toward  the  note-book. 
'*  Wait,  here's  a  letter  for  you,"  said  the  old  man, 
abruptly,  taking  an  envelope  addressed  in   a  feminine 


WAR   AND    PEACE  125 

hand  from  the  pocket  fastened  to  the  table,  and  tossing 
it  to  her. 

The  princess's  face  colored  in  blotches  at  the  sight  of 
the  letter.  She  hastily  picked  it  up  and  examined  it 
intently. 

''  From  your  HeloTse  .?  "  asked  the  prince,  with  a  chill- 
ing smile  that  showed  his  sound,  yellow  teeth. 

"  Yes,  from  Julie,"  said  the  princess,  timidly  glancing 
up  and  timidly  smiling. 

''  I  shall  allow  two  more  letters  to  pass,  but  I  shall 
read  the  third,"  said  the  prince,  severely.  ^  *'  I  fear  you 
write  much  nonsense.     I  shall  read  the  third." 

*'You  may  read  this,  father,"  replied  the  princess, 
with  a  still  deeper  flush,  and  holding  the  letter  toward 
him. 

''  The  third,  I  said,  the  third,"  rejoined  the  prince, 
laconically,  pushing  away  the  letter ;  then,  leaning  his 
elbow  on  the  table,  he  laid  the  note-book  with  the 
geometrical  designs  before  her. 

''Well,  young  lady,"  ^  began  the  old  man,  bending 
over  toward  his  daughter  and  laying  one  arm  on  the 
back  of  her  chair,  so  that  the  young  princess  felt  her- 
self surrounded  by  that  peculiar  acrid  odor  of  tobacco 
and  old  age  which  she  had  so  long  learned  to  associate 
with  her  father.  **  Well,  young  lady,  these  triangles 
are  equal;  if  you  will  observe,  the  angle  abc  ....  " 

The  princess  gazed  in  dismay  at  her  father's  glitter- 
ing eyes  so  near  to  her;  the  red  patches  again  over- 
spread her  face,  and  it  was  evident  that  she  had  not  the 
slightest  comprehension  of  what  he  said,  and  was  so 
overcome  with  fear  that  it  really  prevented  her  from 
comprehending  any  of  her  father's  instructions,  no  mat- 
ter how  clearly  they  were  expressed. 

The  teacher  may  have  been  at  fault,  or  the  pupil  may 
have  been,  but  each  day  the  same  thing  recurred ;  the 
princess's  eyes  pained  her ;  she  could  not  see  anything 
or  hear  anything ;  all  that  she  felt  was  the  conscious- 
ness of  her  stern  father's  withered  face,  the  conscious- 
ness of  his   breath  and  peculiar  odor,  and   her  single 

1  Nu  sttddruinya. 


126  WAR   AND    PEACE 

thought  was  to  escape  as  soon  as  possible  from  the 
cabinet  and  solve  the  problem  by  herself  in  peace.  The 
old  man  would  lose  all  patience ;  noisily  push  back  the 
chair  in  which  he  was  sitting,  and  then  draw  it  forward 
again ;  then  he  would  exert  his  self-control  so  as  not  to 
break  out  into  a  fury,  but  rarely  succeed,  and  sometimes 
he  would  fling  the  note-book  down  on  the  floor. 

The  princess  made  a  mistake  in  her  answer. 

"  Now,  how  can  you  be  so  stupid !  "  stormed  the 
prince,  throwing  aside  the  note-book  and  hastily  turn- 
ing away ;  then  he  rose  to  his  feet,  walked  up  and 
down,  laid  his  hand  on  her  hair,  and  again  sitting  down, 
drew  close  to  her  and  proceeded  with  his  instructions. 

"No  use,  princess,  no  use,"  said  he,  as  the  young 
lady  took  the  lesson-book,  and  closing  it  started  to  leave 
the  room ;  "  mathematics  is  a  great  thing,  my  girl,  and 
I  don't  wish  you  to  be  like  our  stupid,  silly  women.  By 
dint  of  perseverance  one  learns  to  like  it,"  he  patted 
her  on  the  cheek ;  "  the  dulness  will  vanish  from  your 
brain." 

She  started  to  go ;  he  detained  her  by  a  gesture,  and 
took  down  from  the  high  table  a  new  book  with  uncut 
leaves. 

"  Here,  your  Heloi'se  has  sent  you  something  else ; 
some  '  Key  to  the  Mystery,'  a  religious  work.  I  don't 
interfere  with  any  one's  belief.  I  looked  it  over.  Take 
it.     Now,  be  off,  be  off." 

He  patted  her  on  the  shoulder  and,  as  she  went  out, 
closed  the  door  himself. 

The  young  Princess  Mari'ya  returned  to  her  chamber 
with  the  pensive,  scared  expression  that  rarely  left  her 
and  rendered  her  plain,  sickly  face  still  more  unattrac- 
tive. She  sat  down  at  her  writing-table,  covered  with 
miniature  portraits  and  cluttered  with  note-books  and 
volumes.  The  princess  was  just  as  disorderly  as  her 
father  was  systematic :  she  threw  down  her  book  of 
problems  and  hastily  broke  the  seal  of  the  letter,  which 
was  from  her  most  intimate  friend  from  childhood ;  this 
was  no  other  than  the  Julie  Karagina  who  was  at  the 
Rostofs'  on  the  day  of  the  reception. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  127 

Julie  wrote  as  follows:^  — 

Chere  et  excellente  amie :  —  What  a  terrible  and  frightful 
thing  is  absence  !  It  is  in  vain  that  I  tell  myself  that  half  of 
my  existence  and  happiness  is  in  you,  that,  in  spite  of  the  dis- 
tance that  lies  between  us,  our  hearts  are  bound  to  each  other 
by  indissoluble  ties  ;  mine  rebels  against  my  fate,  and,  notwith- 
standing all  the  pleasures  and  attractions  that  surround  me,  I 
cannot  overcome  a  certain  lurking  sadness  which  I  have  felt  in 
the  depths  of  my  heart  ever  since  our  separation.  Why  are  we 
not  together  as  we  were  this  past  summer  in  your  great  cabinet, 
on  the  blue  sofa,  —  that  confidential-sofa  !  Why  can  I  not  now, 
as  I  did  three  months  ago,  draw  fresh  moral  strength  from  your 
eyes,  so  sweet,  so  calm,  so  penetrating,  the  eyes  which  I  loved 
so  much  and  which  I  imagine  I  see  before  me  as  I  write. 

Having  read  to  this  point,  the  Princess  Mariya  sighed 
and  glanced  at  the  pier-glass  that  stood  over  against  her, 
reflecting  her  slight,  homely  form  and  thin  face.  Her 
eyes,  which  were  generally  melancholy,  just  now  looked 
with  a  peculiarly  hopeless  expression  at  her  image  in 
the  glass. 

"  She  is  flattering  me,"  said  the  princess  to  herself, 
turning  away  and  continuing  her  reading  of  the  letter. 
Julie,  however,  had  not  flattered  her  friend :  in  reality, 
the  princess's  eyes  were  large,  deep,  and  luminous ; 
sometimes  whole  sheaves,  as  it  were,  of  soft  light 
seemed  to  gleam  forth  from  them ;  and  then  they  were 
so  beautiful  that  they  transformed  her  whole  face,  not- 
withstanding the  plainness  of  her  features,  and  gave 
her  a  charm  that  was  more  attractive  than  mere  beauty. 

But  the  young  princess  had  never  seen  the  beautiful 
expression  of  her  own  eyes,  the  expression  which  they 
had  at  times  when  she  was  not  thinking  of  herself. 
Like  most  people,  her  face  assumed  an  affectedly  un- 
natural and  ill-favored  expression  as  soon  as  she  looked 
into  the  glass. 

She  went  on  with  the  letter :  — 

All  Moscow  is  talking  of  nothing  but  the  war.  One  of  my 
two  brothers  has  already  gone  abroad ;  the  other  is  with  the 

i  The  letters  in  this  chapter  are  in  French  in  the  original. 


128  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Guard,  which  is  just  about  to  set  out  for  the  frontier.  Our  be- 
loved emperor  has  left  Petersburg,  and,  according  to  what  they 
say,  is  intending  to  expose  his  precious  life  to  the  perils  of  war. 
God  grant  that  the  Corsican  monster,  who  is  destroying  the 
peace  of  Europe,  may  be  laid  low  by  the  angel  whom  the  Al- 
mighty, in  His  mercy,  has  sent  to  rule  over  us. 

Not  to  speak  of  my  brothers,  this  war  has  deprived  me  of 
one  who  is  nearest  and  dearest  to  my  heart ;  I  mean  the  young 
Nikolai'  Rostof,  who  was  so  enthusiastic  that  he  was  unable  to 
endure  inactivity,  and  has  left  the  university  to  join  the  army. 
Ah,  w^ell,  my  dear  Marie,  I  will  confess  to  you  that,  notwith- 
standing his  extreme  youth,  his  departure  for  the  army  is  a 
great  grief  to  me.  The  young  man  —  I  told  you  about  him  last 
summer  —  has  so  much  nobility,  so  much  of  that  genuine  youth- 
fulness  that  we  find  so  rarely  in  this  age  of  ours,  among  our  old 
men  of  twenty  !  He  has  really  so  much  candor  and  heart !  he 
is  so  pure  and  poetic,  that  my  acquaintance  with  him,  slight  as 
it  has  been,  must  be  counted  as  one  of  the  sweetest  enjoyments 
of  my  poor  heart,  which  has  already  suffered  so  keenly.  Some 
day  I  will  tell  you  of  our  parting  and  what  passed  between  us. 
As  yet,  it  is  still  too  fresh  in  my  memory. 

x4h  !  dear  friend,  how  happy  you  are  not  to  experience  these 
joys  and  these  pangs  so  keen  !  You  are  fortunate,  because  the 
latter  are  usually  the  keenest.  I  know  very  well  that  Count 
Nikolai  is  too  young  ever  to  be  anything  to  me  more  than  a 
friend,  but  this  sweet  friendship,  these  relations,  so  poetic  and 
so  pure,  have  become  one  of  the  necessities  of  my  heart.  But 
enough  of  this  ! 

The  chief  news  of  the  day,  which  all  Moscow  is  engaged  in 
talking  about,  is  the  death  of  the  old  Count  Bezukhoi  and  his 
inheritance.  Just  imagine  :  the  three  princesses  get  very  little, 
Prince  Vasili  nothing,  and  it  is  Monsieur  Pierre  who  has  in- 
herited everything.  He  has,  moreover,  been  declared  legiti- 
mate, and  is,  therefore.  Count  Bezukhoi,  and  the  possessor  of 
the  finest  fortune  in  Russia.  It  is  claimed  that  Prince  Vasili 
has  played  a  very  poor  part  in  this  whole  business,  and  that  he 
has  gone  back  to  Petersburg  very  much  crestfallen. 

I  confess  I  have  very  little  understanding  of  this  matter  of 
the  bequests  and  the  will ;  all  I  know  is  that  since  this  young 
man  whom  we  knew  under  the  name  of  Monsieur  Pierre,  pure 
and  simple,  has  become  Count  Bezukhoi  and  master  of  one  of 
the  greatest  fortunes  of  Russia,  I  am  greatly  amused  to  notice 
the   changed   tone  and   behavior  of  mammas  burdened  with 


WAR   AND    PEACE  129 

marriageable  daughters,  and  even  the  young  ladies  themselves, 
toward  this  individual,  who,  parenthetically,  has  always  seemed 
to  me  to  be  a  poor  specimen.  As  it  has  been  the  amusement 
of  many  people  for  the  past  few  years  to  marry  me  off,  and 
generally  to  men  whom  I  do  not  even  know,  la  Chronique 
matrimoniale  of  Moscow  now  makes  me  out  Countess  Be- 
zukhova.  You  know  perfectly  well  that  I  have  no  desire  of 
acquiring  that  position  ! 

Speaking  of  marriage,  do  you  know  that  quite  recently  the 
Universal  Auntie,  Anna  Mikhailovna,  has  confided  to  me,  under 
the  seal  of  the  strictest  secrecy,  a  marriage  project  for  you  ;  this 
is  neither  more  nor  less  than  Prince  Vasili's  son,  Anatol,  whom 
it  is  proposed  to  bring  to  order  by  marrying  him  to  a  young 
lady  of  wealth  and  distinction,  and  you  are  the  one  on  whom 
the  choice  of  the  relatives  has  fallen.  I  know  not  how  you  will 
look  upon  the  matter,  but  I  felt  that  it  was  my  duty  to  inform 
you.  They  say  he  is  very  handsome  and  a  great  scapegrace , 
that  is  all  that  I  have  been  able  to  find  out  about  him. 

But  a  truce  to  gossip  like  this.  I  am  at  the  end  of  my  second 
sheet,  and  mamma  is  caUing  me  to  go  to  dine  at  the  Apraksins'. 
Read  the  mystic  book  which  I  send  you,  and  which  is  all  the 
rage  with  us.  Although  there  are  things  in  this  book  difficult  for 
the  feeble  mind  of  man  to  fathom,  it  is  an  admirable  work,  the 
reading  of  which  soothes  and  elevates  the  mind.  Adieu.  My 
respects  to  your  father,  and  my  compliments  to  Mile.  Bourienne. 
I  embrace  you  with  all  my  heart. 

Julie. 

P.S.  Tell  me  the  news  about  your  brother  and  his  charming 
little  wife. 

The  princess  sat  thinking,  a  pensive  smile  playing 
over  her  lips  ;  her  face,  lighted  up  by  her  luminous 
eyes,  v^as  perfectly  transfigured;  then,  suddenly  jump- 
ing up,  she  walked  briskly  across  the  room  to  her  table. 
She  got  out  some  paper  and  her  hand  began  to  fly 
rapidly  over  it.     This  was  what  she  wrote  in  reply :  — 

Chere  et  excellente  amie :  —  Your  letter  of  the  thirteenth 
caused  me  great  delight.  So  then,  you  still  love  me,  my  poetic 
Julie.  And  absence,  of  which  you  say  such  hard  things,  has 
not  had  its  usual  effect  upon  you.  You  complain  of  absence  — 
what  should  I  have  to  say  if  I  dared  complain,  bereft  as  I  am  of 
VOL.  I.  —  9 


ijo  WAR   AND    PEACE 

all  those  who  are  dearest  to  me?  Ah  !  if  we  had  not  religion  to 
console  us,  life  would  be  very  sad. 

Why  should  you  suspect  me  of  looking  stern,  when  you 
speak  to  me  of  your  affection  for  the  young  man?  In  this 
respect,  I  am  lenient  to  all  except  myself.  I  appreciate  these 
sentiments  in  others,  and  if  I  cannot  approve  of  them  (never 
having  myself  experienced  them),  I  do  not  condemn  them.  It 
only  seemed  to  me  that  Christian  love,  love  for  our  neighbor, 
love  for  our  enemies,  is  more  meritorious,  and,  therefore, 
sweeter  and  more  beautiful,  than  those  sentiments  inspired  in 
a  poetic  and  loving  young  girl  like  you  by  a  young  man's  hand- 
some eyes. 

The  news  of  Count  Bezukhoi's  death  reached  us  in  advance 
of  your  letter,  and  my  father  was  very  much  moved  by  it.  He 
says  that  he  was  the  last  representative  but  one  of  the  '^ grand 
siecle^'"'  and  that  now  it  is  his  turn,  but  that  he  shall  do  his 
best  to  put  it  off  as  long  as  possible.  God  preserve  us  from 
such  a  terrible  misfortune  ! 

I  cannot  agree  with  you  in  your  judgment  of  Pierre,  whom 
I  knew  as  a  boy.  He  always  seemed  to  me  to  have  an  excel- 
lent heart,  and  that  is  the  quality  I  most  value  in  people.  As 
to  his  inheritance  and  the  rdle  played  by  Prince  Vasili,  it  is 
very  sad  for  both  of  them.  Ah,  dear  friend  !  our  divine 
Saviour's  saying,  that  it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  pass  through 
the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  God,  is  terribly  true  ;  I  pity  Prince  VasiU  and  I  am  still 
more  sorry  for  Pierre.  So  young,  and  to  be  loaded  down  with 
this  wealth ;  what  temptations  will  he  not  have  to  undergo  ! 
If  I  were  asked  what  I  should  desire  most  in  this  world,  it 
would  be  to  be  poorer  than  the  poorest  of  beggars. 

A  thousand  thanks,  dear  friend,  for  the  work  which  you 
send  me  and  which  is  so  much  the  rage  with  you  in  Moscow. 
However,  as  you  say  that  while  there  are  many  good  things  in 
it,  there  are  others  which  the  feeble  mind  of  man  cannot  fathom, 
it  seems  to  me  quite  idle  to  waste  one's  time  in  reading  what 
is  unintelligible,  and  which,  therefore,  can  be  productive  of  no 
good  fruit.  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand  the  passion 
which  some  people  have  for  disturbing  their  minds  by  devoting 
themselves  to  mystical  books  that  arouse  nothing  but  doubts, 
kindling  their  imaginations,  and  giving  them  a  love  for  exag- 
geration utterly  contrary  to  Christian  simplicity.  Let  us  read 
the  Apostles  and  the  Gospels.  Let  us  give  up  trying  to  pene- 
trate the  mysteries  they  contain,  for  how  should  we,  miserable 


WAR   AND    PEACE  131 

sinners  that  we  are,  presume  to  investigate  the  terrible  secrets 
of  Providence,  while  we  carry  with  us  this  garment  of  flesh 
which  forms  an  impenetrable  veil  between  us  and  the  Eternal  ? 
Then  let  us  confine  ourselves  to  a  studying  of  the  sublime 
principles  which  our  divine  Saviour  has  left  for  our  guidance 
here  below ;  let  us  seek  to  conform  to  them  and  follow  them, 
being  persuaded  that  the  less  rein  we  give  to  our  feeble  human 
minds,  the  more  pleasing  it  is  to  God,  Who  repudiates  all 
knowledge  not  proceeding  from  Him ;  that  the  less  we  seek  to 
explore  what  it  has  seemed  best  to  Him  to  hide  from  our  com- 
prehension, the  sooner  He  will  grant  us  to  discover  it  by  His 
divine  spirit. 

My  father  has  not  said  anything  to  me  of  a  suitor ;  he  has 
merely  told  me  of  having  received  a  letter  and  of  expecting 
a  visit  from  Prince  Vasili.  As  far  as  the  project  of  marriage 
concerns  me,  I  will  tell  you,  chere  et  excellente  aniie,  that  in 
my  opinion,  marriage  is  a  divine  institution  to  which  it  is 
necessary  to  conform.  However  painful  it  might  be  to  me,  if 
the  Almighty  should  ever  impose  upon  me  the  duties  of  a  wife 
and  mother,  I  shall  endeavor  to  fill  them  as  faithfully  as  I  can, 
without  disturbing  myself  by  inquiring  into  the  nature  of  my 
feeHngs  toward  him  whom  He  shall  give  me  as  a  husband. 

I  have  had  a  letter  from  my  brother,  announcing  his  speedy 
arrival  at  Luisiya  Gorui  with  his  wife.  This  will  be  a  joy  of 
short  duration,  for  he  will  leave  us  to  take  part  in  this  unhappy 
war,  into  which  we  are  dragged  God  knows  why  and  how. 
Not  alone  with  you,  at  the  center  of  business  and  society,  is 
the  war  the  only  topic  of  conversation,  but  here  amid  the 
labors  of  the  fields,  and  that  calm  of  nature  which  the  inhabi- 
tants of  cities  ordinarily  imagine  to  be  peculiar  to  the  country, 
the  rumors  of  the  war  make  themselves  painfully  heard  and 
felt.  My  father  can  talk  of  nothing  else  but  marches  and 
countermarches,  things  of  which  I  have  no  comprehension ; 
and  day  before  yesterday,  while  taking  my  usual  walk  down 
the  village  street,  I  witnessed  a  heartrending  scene  :  it  was  a 
party  of  recruits,  enHsted  on  our  estate,  and  on  their  way  to 
the  army.  You  ought  to  have  seen  the  state  in  which  were 
the  mothers,  wives,  and  children  of  the  men  who  were  off,  and 
to  have  heard  their  sobs.  You  should  think  that  humanity 
had  forgotten  the  precepts  of  their  divine  Saviour,  Who  taught 
love,  and  the  forgiveness  of  offenses ;  one  would  think  that 
they  imputed  their  greatest  merit  to  the  art  of  kilHng  one 
another. 


132  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Adieu,  chere  et  bojine  arnie  !  May  our  divine  Saviour  and 
His  Holy  Mother  keep  you  in  their  holy  and  powerful  keeping. 

Marie. 

"■  Ah,  you  are  sending  off  a  letter,  princess ;  I  have 
already  sent  mine  ;  I  have  written  to  my  poor  mother," 
said  the  smiling  Mile.  Bourienne,  speaking  rapidly 
and  swallowing  her  R's,  and  altogether  bringing  into 
the  Princess  Mariya's  concentrated  and  melancholy 
atmosphere  what  seemed  like  the  breath  of  another 
world,  where  reigned  gayety,  light-heartedness,  and 
complacency. 

''  Princess,  I  must  warn  you,"  she  added,  lowering 
her  voice,  "  the  prince  has  had  a  quarrel  with  Mikhail 
Ivanof.  He  is  in  a  very  bad  humor ;  very  morose.  I 
warn  you,  —  you  know." 

''  Ah,  my  dear  friend,"  replied  the  Princess  Mariya, 
**  I  have  asked  of  you  never  to  speak  to  me  of  the 
humor  in  which  my  father  happens  to  be.  I  do  not  allow 
myself  to  make  remarks  about  him  and  I  do  not  wish 
others  to." 

The  princess  glanced  at  her  watch  and  noticing  that 
she  was  already  five  minutes  behind  the  time  when  it 
was  required  of  her  to  practise  on  the  clavichord,  she 
hurried  from  the  room  with  dismay  pictured  on  her 
face.  Between  twelve  o'clock  and  two  the  prince  took 
his  nap,  and  it  was  the  immutable  rule  of  the  house 
that  the  princess  then  should  practise. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

The  gray-haired  man-servant  was  sitting  in  the  cabi- 
net, dozing  and  listening  to  the  prince's  snoring.  From 
a  distant  part  of  the  house,  through  the  closed  doors, 
came  the  notes  of  a  difficult  phrase  of  a  Dussek  sonata, 
repeated  for  the  twentieth  time. 

At  this  time,  a  coach  and  a  britchka  drove  up  to  the 
entrance  door,  and  from  the  coach  descended  Prince 
Andrei,  who  handed  his  little  wife  down  and  allowed 


WAR   AND    PEACE  133 

her  to  pass  ahead  of  him.  The  gray-haired  Tikhon,  in 
a  wig,  thrust  his  head  out  of  the  hall  door  and  informed 
them  in  a  whisper  that  the  prince  was  asleep  and  then 
softly  closed  the  door.  Tikhon  was  well  aware  that 
not  even  the  arrival  of  the  son,  or  any  other  event,  how- 
ever out  of  the  common,  should  be  allowed  to  interrupt 
the  order  of  the  day.  Prince  Andrei'  knew  this  as  well 
as  Tikhon  ;  he  looked  at  his  watch,  as  if  to  convince 
himself  that  there  had  been  no  change  in  his  father's 
habits  since  he  had  seen  him,  and  having  satisfied  him- 
self on  that  score,  turned  to  his  wife. 

*'  He  will  be  awake  in  twenty  minutes.  Let  us  go  to 
the  Princess  Mariya,"  said  he. 

The  little  princess  had  grown  stouter,  but  her  eyes, 
and  her  short,  downy  lip,  and  her  sweet  smile  were  just 
the  same  as  ever  as  she  exclaimed :  — 

"  Why,  it  is  a  palace  !  " 

And  she  looked  around  with  an  expression  such  as 
people  have  in  congratulating  a  host  on  a  ball :  — 

'*  Come  along  quick,  quick  !  "  ....  She  smiled  at  Tik- 
hon and  her  husband  and  the  footman  who  was  leading 
the  way. 

"  Is  it  Marie  practising  ?  let  us  go  softly,  so  as  to 
surprise  her." 

Prince  Andrei  followed  her,  with  a  civil  but  bored 
expression. 

''You  have  grown  older,  Tikhon,"  said  he  to  the  old 
man-servant,  who,  as  he  passed  by,  kissed  his  hand. 

Just  before  they  reached  the  room  where  the  clavi- 
chord was  heard,  the  pretty  little  fair-haired  French- 
woman came  tripping  out  from  a  side  door.  Mile. 
Bourienne  seemed  overjoyed  to  see  them. 

**  Ah  !  What  a  pleasure  for  the  princess!  "  she  cried  ; 
"you  are  here  at  last.     I  must  go  and  tell  her." 

"  No,  no,  I  beg  of  you  !  You  are  Mile.  Bourienne  ;  I 
know  you  already  from  the  friendship  which  my  sister- 
in-law  has  for  you,"  said  the  princess,  kissing  her;  ''she 
is  not  expecting  us  ?  " 

They  went  to  the  door  of  the  divan-room,  where  the 
phrase  was  being   repeated  again   and  again.     Prince 


134  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Andrer  paused  and  frowned,  as  if  he  were  expecting 
something  disagreeable. 

The  princess  went  in.  The  phrase  was  broken  off  in 
the  middle ;  a  cry  was  heard,  followed  by  the  sound  of 
hasty  footsteps  and  kisses.  When  Prince  Andrei'  went 
in,  the  two  sisters-in-law,  who  had  only  met  once  for  a 
short  time,  at  Prince  Andrei's  wedding,  were  still  locked 
in  a  fond  embrace,  just  as  at  the  first  moment  of  their 
meeting.  Mile.  Bourienne  was  standing  near  them, 
with  her  hand  on  her  heart  and  a  beatific  smile  on  her 
lips,  evidently  as  ready  to  cry  as  to  laugh.  Prince 
Andrei  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  frowned,  just  as 
lovers  of  music  frown  when  they  hear  a  discord.  Both 
the  women  stood  apart;  then  once  again,  as  if  fearing 
that  a  moment  would  be  lost,  they  seized  each  other  by 
the  hand  and  began  to  kiss  them  ;  and  not  satisfied  with 
kissing  each  other's  hands,  they  began  to  kiss  each  other 
in  the  face,  and,  to  Prince  Andrei's  unqualified  surprise, 
they  both  burst  into  tears  and  again  began  to  kiss  each 
other.  Mile.  Bourienne  was  also  melted ;  it  was  awk- 
ward enough  for  Prince  Andrei,  but  to  the  women  it 
seemed  perfectly  natural  to  weep  ;  indeed,  they  could 
never  have  dreamed  of  a  meeting  without  such  an  accom- 
paniment. 

''  Ah,  c/i^re  !  "  ....  "Ah,  Marie  !  "  ....  they  kept  exclaim- 
ing, amid  laughter  and  tears.  *'  I  dreamed  last  night." 
....  "And  so  you  were  not  expecting  us.''"....  "Ah, 
Marie,  you  have  grown  thin."  ....  "  And  you  have  grown 
so  stout!  " 

"  I  knew  the  princess  the  moment  I  saw  her,"  put  in 
Mile.  Bourienne. 

"And  here  was  I  not  thinking  of  such  a  thing!" 
cried  the  Princess  Mariya....  "Ah,  Andrei',  I  did  not 
see  you !  " 

Prince  Andre'i  kissed  his  sister's  hand,  and  told  her 
that  she  was  as  great  a  cry-baby  as  ever.  The  Princess 
Mariya  turned  to  her  brother,  and  through  her  tears, 
her  eyes,  now  large  and  beautiful  and  luminous,  rested 
on  him  with  a  fond,  g'entle,  and  sweet  expression. 

The  young  wife  chattered  incessantly.     Her  short, 


WAR   AND   PEACE  135 

downy  upper  lip  every  instant  drew  down  and  touched 
the  rosy  under  Hp,  and  then  curled  again  with  the  brill- 
iant smile  that  made  her  eyes  and  her  teeth  shine.  She 
told  about  an  accident  at  Spaskaya  Gora  which  threat- 
ened to  be  seriously  dangerous  in  her  condition,  and  the 
next  instant  she  informed  them  that  she  had  left  all  her 
dresses  in  Petersburg  and  God  knew  what  she  should 
have  to  wear  while  here,  and  that  Andrei  had  greatly 
changed,  and  that  Kitty  Odumtsova  had  married  an  old 
man,  and  that  she  really  had  a  husband  for  Marie,  but 
that  they  would  talk  about  that  afterwards. 

The  Princess  Mariya  stood  looking  silently  at  her 
brother,  and  her  lovely  eyes  beamed  with  affection  and 
melancholy.  It  was  evident  that  she  was  now  follow- 
ing her  own  course  of  thought,  quite  independent  of  her 
sister-in-law's  prattle.  Right  in  the  midst  of  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  last  reception  at  Petersburg,  she  turned  to 
her  brother :  — 

**  And  are  you  really  going  to  the  war,  Andr6,"  she 
asked,  with  a  sigh.     Lise  also  sighed. 

'*  Yes,  and  I  must  be  off  by  to-morrow,"  replied  her 
brother. 

"  He  leaves  me,  and  God  knows  why,  when  he  might 
have  been  promoted." 

The  Princess  Mariya  paid  no  attention  to  this  remark, 
but,  following  the  thread  of  her  thoughts,  gave  her  sister- 
in-law  a  significant  glance  from  her  affectionate  eyes. 

**  You  are  sure  of  it  .-^  " 

The  young  wife's  face  changed.     She  sighed  again. 

"Certainly  I  am,"  said  she.     *'Ah,  it  is  terrible." 

Her  lip  went  down.  She  brought  her  face  near  to 
the  young  princess's,  and  again  unexpectedly  burst  into 
tear^. 

"  She  needs  to  rest,"  said  Prince  Andrei",  scowling ; 
"  don't  you,  Liza  ?  Take  her  to  her  room  and  I  will  go 
to  my  father.     How  is  he  .'*     Just  the  same  as  ever  ?  " 

**  Just  the  same ;  but  perhaps  your  eyes  will  see  some 
change  in  him,"  replied  the  princess,  cheerfully. 

"  The  same  regular  hours,  the  same  walks  in  the  gar- 
den,  the  lathe.''"  asked   Prince  Andrei,  with  a  barely 


136  WAR    AND    PEACE 

perceptible  smile,  which  proved  that  notwithstanding  all 
his  love  and  reverence  for  his  father,  he  was  not  blind 
to  his  weaknesses. 

"Yes,  just  the  same  hours,  and  the  lathe,  and  the 
mathematics,  and  my  geometry  lessons,"  replied  the 
princess,  merrily,  as  if  her  geometry  lessons  were  among 
the  great  delights  of  her  life. 

When  the  twenty  minutes  which  remained  for  the 
prince's  nap  were  over,  Tikhon  came  to  summon  the 
young  man  to  see  his  father.  The  old  man  allowed  a 
variation  in  his  mode  of  life  in  honor  of  his  son ;  he 
commanded  to  have  him  come  to  him  in  his  own  room, 
while  he  was  dressing  (before  dinner).  •  The  prince 
dressed  in  the  old-time  costume  of  a  kaftan  and  powered 
wig.  When  Prince  Andrei  —  not  with  the  peevish  face 
and  manners  which  he  assumed  in  society,  but  with  a 
lively  expression,  such  as  he  had  when  he  was  talking 
with  Pierre  —  went  into  his  father's  room,  the  old  man 
was  at  his  toilet,  sitting  in  a  wide  morocco-upholstered 
arm-chair  in  a  wrapper,  while  Tikhon  was  putting  the 
last  touches  to  his  head. 

'*  Ah,  my  soldier !  so  you  are  going  to  conquer  Bona- 
parte }  "  cried  the  old  prince,  and  he  shook  his  powdered 
head,  so  far  as  he  was  allowed  by  the  pigtail  which 
Tikhon  was  busy  plaiting.  "  You  do  well  to  go  against 
him ;  otherwise,  he  would  soon  be  calling  us  his  subjects  ! 
Are  you  well  ? "  and  he  offered  his  son  his  cheek. 

The  old  man  awoke  from  his  noon  nap  in  an  excellent 
frame  of  mind  (he  was  accustomed  to  say  that  a  nap 
after  dinner  was  silver,  but  one  before  dinner  was 
golden).  He  squinted  cheerily  at  his  son  from  under 
his  thick,  beetling  brows.  Prince  Andrei  went  and 
kissed  his  father  on  the  spot  designated.  He  made  no 
reply  to  his  father's  favorite  topic  of  conversation  or  to 
his  sarcasms  on  the  military  men  of  the  present  time 
and  especially  on  Napoleon. 

"  Yes,  I  have  come  to  you,  batyushka,  and  with  my 
wife,  who  expects  to  be  confined  soon,"  said  Prince 
Andrei,  watching  with  eager  and  reverent  eyes  all  the 
play  of  his  father's  features.     "  How  is  your  health  ?  " 


WAR   AND    PEACE  137 

"  Only  fools  and  rakes  ever  need  to  be  unwell,  my 
boy,  and  you  know  me ;  bus}^  from  morning  till  night, 
and  temperate,  and  of  course  I  'm  well." 

''Thank  God,"  said  the  son,  smiling. 

"God  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Well,"  continued 
the  old  man,  returning  to  his  favorite  hobby,  ''tell  us 
how  the  Germans  and  Bonaparte  have  taught  us  to 
fight,  according  to  this  new  science  of  yours,  that  you 
call  '  strategy  ' .?  " 

Prince  Andrei  smiled. 

"  Let  me  have  time  to  collect  my  wits,  batyushka," 
said  he,  and  his  expression  showed  that  his  father's 
foibles  did  not  prevent  him  from  reverencing  and  loving 
him.  "  Why,  you  see  I  have  not  even  been  to  my  room 
yet." 

"  Nonsense,  nonsense,"  cried  the  old  man,  pulling  at 
his  little  pigtail  to  assure  himself  that  it  was  firmly 
plaited,  and  grasping  his  son  by  the  arm.  "  The  quar- 
ters for  your  wife  are  all  ready.  The  Princess  Mariya 
will  take  her  there  and  show  them  to  her,  and  they  will 
chatter  their  three  basketfuls!  that 's  their  woman's  way. 
I  'm  glad  to  have  her  here.  Sit  down  and  talk.  I  un- 
derstand Michelson's  army  and  Tolstoi's,  too.  It 's  a 
simultaneous  descent.  But  what 's  the  Southern  army 
going  to  do  ?  Prussia  remains  neutral,  I  know  that ; 
but  how  about  Austria  ? "  he  asked,  as  he  got  up  from 
his  chair  and  began  to  walk  up  and  down  the  room, 
with  Tikhon  running  after  him  to  give  him  the  various 
parts  of  his  attire.  "What's  Sweden  going  to  do  .-* 
How  will  they  get  across  Pomerania  ?  " 

Prince  Andrei,  perceiving  the  urgency  of  his  father's 
inquiries,  began,  at  first  unwillingly,  but  gradually  warm- 
ing up  more  and  more,  to  explain  the  plan  of  operations 
determined  upon  for  the  campaign.  As  he  spoke,  he 
involuntarily,  from  very  force  of  habit,  kept  dropping 
from  Russian  into  French.  He  explained  how  an  army 
of  ninety  thousand  was  to  threaten  Prussia  and  force 
her  to  abandon  her  neutrality  and  take  part  in  the  war ; 
how  a  portion  of  this  army  was  to  go  to  Stralsund  and 
unite  with  the  Swedish  forces;  how  two  hundred  and 


138  WAR    AND    PEACE 

twenty  thousand  Austrians,  with  a  hundred  thousand 
Russians,  were  to  engage  in  active  operations  in  Italy 
and  on  the  Rhine;  and  how  fifty  thousand  Russians  and 
fifty  thousand  English  were  to  disembark  at  Naples,  and 
how  this  army,  with  a  total  of  five  hundred  thousand 
men,  was  to  make  an  attack  simultaneously  from  differ- 
ent sides  on  the  French. 

The  old  prince  did  not  manifest  the  least  interest  in 
the  description,  any  more  than  if  he  had  not  heard  it, 
and  continued  to  dress  himself  as  he  walked  up  and 
down ;  though  three  times  he  unexpectedly  interrupted 
him.  Once  he  stopped  him  by  crying,  **  The  white  one! 
the  white  one  !  " 

That  meant  that  Tikhon  had  not  given  him  the  waist- 
coat that  he  wished.  The  second  time  he  stopped  and 
asked,  "And  is  the  baby  expected  soon  .?"  and  reproach- 
fully shaking  his  head,  said,  "That's  too  bad,  —  go  on, 
go  on ! " 

The  third  time,  when  Prince  Andrei  had  finished  his 
description,  the  old  man  sang  in  a  high  falsetto,  with 
the  cracked  voice  of  age  :  — 

"  Malbroiig  s'^en  va-t-en  guerre. 
Dieu  salt  qiiand  reznendray"^ 

The  son  merely  smiled. 

"  I  don't  say  that  I  approve  of  this  plan,"  said  he  ;  "I 
am  only  telling  you  what  it  is.  Napoleon,  of  course, 
has  his  plan,  which  is  probably  as  good  as  ours." 

"  Well,  you  have  n't  told  me  anything  that  is  in  the 
least  new,"  and  the  old  man  thoughtfully  continued  to 
hum  the  refrain:  ^^ Dieu  salt  qiiand  il  reviendray  — 
"Go  into  the  dining-room." 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

At  the  appointed  hour,  the  prince,  powdered  and 
shaved,  went  to  the  dining-room,  where  his  daughter-in- 
law,  the  Princess  Mariya,  and  Mile.  Bourienne  and  the 

^  Marlborough  is  going  to  the  war.  God  knows  when  he  '11  come  back 
again. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  139 

architect  were  waiting  for  him.  The  latter  was  allowed 
at  the  table  through  a  strange  caprice  of  the  prince, 
though  from  his  position  this  insignificant  man  would 
never  have  been  shown  such  an  honor.  The  prince, 
who  had  a  firm  belief  in  the  gradations  of  rank,  and 
rarely  admitted  to  his  table  even  the  important  func- 
tionaries of  the  province,  had  suddenly  selected  Mikhail 
Ivanovitch  (who  blew  his  nose  in  the  corner  on  a  checked 
handkerchief)  as  a  living  example  of  the  theory  that  all 
men  were  equal,  and  more  than  once  assured  his  daugh- 
ter that  the  architect  was  as  good  as  they  were.  At 
the  table  the  prince  was  very  apt  to  address  his  con- 
versation mainly  to  the  speechless  Mikhail  Ivanovitch. 

In  the  dining-room,  tremendously  lofty,  like  all  the 
rest  of  the  rooms  in  the  mansion,  the  prince's  butlers 
and  serving-men,  each  standing  behind  a  chair,  were 
waiting  his  coming.  The  dvoretsky,  or  house-steward, 
with  a  napkin  over  his  arm,  glanced  to  see  that  the 
table  was  properly  set,  beckoned  to  the  waiters,  and 
constantly  let  his  troubled  eyes  wander  from  the  wall- 
clock  to  the  door  where  the  prince  was  expected  to 
enter. 

Prince  Andrei  was  looking  at  a  huge  gilded  frame, 
which  he  had  never  before  seen,  containing  a  represen- 
tation of  the  genealogical  tree  of  the  Bolkonskys,  w^hich 
hung  opposite  a  similar  frame  with  a  badly  executed 
painting,  evidently  perpetrated  by  some  domestic  artist, 
and  meant  to  be  a  portrait  of  a  reigning  prince,  in  a 
crown,  showing  that  he  was  descended  from  Rurik,  and 
was  the  originator  of  the  house  of  Bolkonsky.  Prince 
Andrei  was  studying  this  genealogical  tree,  and  shaking 
his  head  and  laughing,  as  if  the  portrait  struck  him  as 
something  ludicrous. 

''How  like  him  this  all  is!"  he  was  saying  to  the 
Princess  Mariya,  as  she  came  up  to  him. 

The  Princess  Mariya  looked  at  her  brother  in  amaze- 
ment. She  could  not  understand  what  he  could  find 
to  amuse  him.  All  that  her  father  did  inspired  in  her 
a  reverence  which  removed  it  beyond  criticism. 

"  Every  man  has  his  Achilles'  heel,"  continued  Prince 


I40  WAR   AND    PEACE 

AndreL  "  With  his  tremendous  intellect,  the  idea  of 
going  into  this  absurdity  !  " 

The  Princess  Mariya  could  not  approve  of  this  auda- 
cious judgment  of  her  brother's,  and  was  just  about  to 
reprove  him,  when  the  steps  which  they  were  awaiting 
were  heard  coming  from  the  cabinet.  The  prince  came 
in  briskly,  even  gayly,  as  was  his  universal  custom,  as 
if  he  meant  by  his  lively  ways  to  make  a  contrast  with 
the  stern  routine  of  the  house. 

Just  at  the  instant  that  the  great  clock  struck  two, 
and  was  answered  by  the  feebler  tone  of  another  in  the 
reception-room,  the  prince  made  his  appearance.  He 
paused.  From  under  his  thick,  overhanging  brows, 
his  keen,  flashing,  stern  eyes  surveyed  all  who  were 
present,  and  then  rested  on  his  son's  young  wife.  The 
young  princess  instantly  experienced  that  feeling  of  fear 
and  reverence  which  this  old  man  inspired  in  all  those 
around  him,  —  a  feeling  akin  to  that  experienced  by 
courtiers  at  the  coming  of  the  Tsar. 

He  smoothed  the  princess's  head,  and  then,  with  a 
clumsy  motion,  patted  her  on  the  back  of  the  neck. 

**  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  glad  to  see  you,"  said  he ; 
and,  after  looking  into  her  face  steadily  once  more,  he 
turned  away  and  sat  down  in  his  place. 

"  Sit  down,  sit  down  !     Mikhail  Ivanovitch,  sit  down." 

He  assigned  his  daughter-in-law  the  place  next  him ; 
the  waiter  pushed  the  chair  up  for  her. 

"  Ho  !  ho  !  "  said  the  old  man,  looking  at  her  critically, 
**  your  time  is  coming  !  too  bad  !  " 

He  smiled  dryly,  coldly,  disagreeably,  with  his  lips 
alone,  as  usual,  and  not  with  his  eyes.  "You  must 
walk,  walk,  as  much  as  possible ;  as  much  as  possible," 
said  he. 

The  little  princess  did  not  hear,  or  did  not  wish  to 
hear,  his  words.  She  said  nothing,  and  seemed  dis- 
pirited. The  prince  asked  after  her  father,  and  she 
replied  and  smiled.  He  asked  about  common  acquaint- 
ances ;  the  princess  grew  more  animated,  and  began 
to  deliver  mxcssages,  and  tell  the  prince  the  gossip  of 
the  town. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  141 

"The  Countess  Apraksina,  poor  woman,  has  lost  her 
husband,  and  quite  cried  her  eyes  out,"  said  she,  grow- 
ing still  more  lively. 

The  livelier  she  became,  the  more  sternly  the  prince 
looked  at  her,  and  suddenly,  as  if  he  had  studied  her 
enough,  and  had  formed  a  sufficiently  clear  idea  of  her 
mental  caliber,  he  turned  abruptly  away  and  began  to 
talk  with  Mikhail  Ivanovitch. 

"Well,  now,  Mikhaila  Ivanovitch,  it  is  going  to  go 
hard  with  our  Bonaparte.  As  Prince  Andrei  has  been 
telling  me,"  —  he  always  spoke  of  his  son  in  the  third 
person,  —  "  great  forces  are  collecting  against  him.  But 
then,  you  and  I  have  always  considered  him  to  be  a 
wind-bag." 

Mikhail  Ivanovitch  really  did  not  know  when  he 
and  the  prince  had  ever  said  any  such  things  about 
Bonaparte,  but  perceiving  that  this  was  necessary  as 
a  preliminary  for  the  prince's  favorite  subject  of  con- 
versation, looked  in  surprise  at  the  young  prince,  and 
wondered  what  would  be  the  outcome  of  it. 

"  He  is  great  at  tactics,"  said  the  old  prince  to  his 
son,  referring  to  the  architect ;  and  again  the  conversa- 
tion turned  on  the  war,  on  Bonaparte,  and  the  generals 
of  the  present  day,  and  the  great  men  of  the  reign. 
The  old  prince,  it  seemed,  was  persuaded  in  his  own 
mind  that  all  the  men  at  the  head  of  affairs  at  the 
present  day  were  mere  school-boys,  who  did  not  know 
even  the  a  b  c  oi  war  and  civil  administration,  and  that 
Bonaparte  was  an  insignificant  Frenchman,  who  had 
been  successful  simply  from  the  fact  that  there  were  no 
Potemkins  or  Suvorofs  to  meet  him ;  but  he  was  per- 
suaded, also,  that  no  political  complications,  of  any 
account,  existed  in  Europe ;  that  the  war  did  not 
amount  to  anything,  but  was  a  sort  of  puppet-show,  at 
which  the  men  of  the  present  day  were  playing,  while 
pretending  to  do  something  great. 

Prince  Andrei  took  his  father's  sarcasms  at  the  "new 
men  "  in  good  part,  and  with  apparent  pleasure  led  him 
on,  and  heard  what  he  had  to  say. 

"  The  past  always   seems  better  than  the  present," 


142  WAR    AND    PEACE 

said  ihe  young  man  ;  "  yet  did  n't  that  same  Suvorof  fall 
into  the  trap  which  Moreau  laid  for  him,  —  fell  in,  and 
had  n't  the  wit  to  get  himself  out  of  it? " 

"  Who  told  you  that  ?  who  told  you  ? "  cried  the 
prince.  "  Suvorof ! "  and  he  flung  away  his  plate, 
which  Tikhon  was  quick  enough  to  catch.  "  Suvorof ! 
....  Consider,  Prince  Andrei !  Friedrich  and  Suvorof  were 
a  pair  ; ....  Moreau  !  Moreau  would  have  been  taken  pris- 
oner if  Suvorof's  hands  had  been  free  ;  but  he  had  on  his 
hands  a  Hofskriegsivnrstschnapsratli}  The  devil  him- 
self could  not  have  done  anything.  Now  if  you  go  on 
you  will  find  out  what  these  HofskriegswurstscJmapsratJis 
are  like.  Suvorof  was  no  match  for  them  ;  what  chance 
do  you  suppose  Mikhail  Kutuzof  will  have }  No,  my 
dear  young  friend,"  he  went  on  to  say;  "there's  no 
chance  for  you  and  your  generals  against  Bonaparte ; 
you  must  needs  take  Frenchmen,  so  that  birds  of  a 
feather  may  fight  together.  You  have  sent  the  Ger- 
man Pahlen  to  New  York,  to  America,  after  the 
Frenchman  Moreau,"  said  he,  referring  to  the  over- 
tures that  had  been  made  that  same  year  to  Moreau  to 
enter  the  Russian  service.  "  It 's  marvelous !  Were 
the  Potemkins,  Suvorofs,  Orlofs,  Germans,  pray  ?  No, 
brother,  either  all  of  you  have  lost  your  wits,  or  I  have 
gone  into  my  dotage !  God  give  you  good  luck !  but 
we  shall  see.     Their  Bonaparte  a  great  general!  hm  !  " 

''  I  don't  pretend  to  say  that  all  our  arrangements  are 
wise,"  returned  Prince  Andrei,  "only  I  can't  under- 
stand how  you  have  such  a  low  opinion  of  Bonaparte. 
Laugh  as  much  as  you  please,  but  Bonaparte  is,  never- 
theless, a  great  general." 

"  M-ikhaila  Ivanovitch,"  cried  the  old  prince  to  the 
architect,  who  w^as  giving  his  attention  to  the  roast,  and 
devoutly  hoping  that  he  was*  quite  forgotten,  "  I  have 
told  you,  have  I  not,  that  Bonaparte  was  a  great  tacti- 
cian ?     And  he  says  so,  too." 

"  How,  your  illustriousness  .''  "  replied  the  architect. 

The  prince  again  laughed  his  chilling  laugh. 

"  Bonaparte    was   born    with    a    silver   spoon    in    his 

1  Court- War-Sausage-Schnaps-Couucil. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  143 

mouth.  ^  His  soldiers  are  excellent.  And  then  again, 
he  had  the  good  luck  to  fight  with  the  Germans  first. 
Only  a  lazy  man  would  fail  to  whip  the  Germans. 
Ever  since  the  world  began,  the  Germans  have  always 
been  whipped.  And  they  have  never  whipped  any  one. 
Oh,  yes,  one  another!  He  made  his  reputation  by 
fighting  them." 

And  the  prince  began  to  expatiate  on  all  the  blunders 
that  Napoleon,  in  his  opinion,  had  made  in  all  his  wars,  and 
even  in  his  act  of  administration.  His  son  did  not  dis- 
pute what  he  said,  but  it  was  evident  that,  whatever 
arguments  were  employed  against  him,  he  was  just  as 
little  inclined  to  alter  his  opinion  as  the  old  prince  him- 
self. Prince  Andrei  listened,  refraining  from  engaging 
in  any  discussion,  and  only  smiling  as  he  involuntarily 
wondered  how  it  was  possible  for  this  old  man,  who 
had  lived  for  so  many  years  like  a  hermit  in  the  coun- 
try, to  know  so  thoroughly  and  accurately  all  the  military 
and  political  occurrences  that  had  taken  place  in  Europe 
during  the  last  years,  and  was  able  to  form  such  an 
opinion  of  them. 

**  You  think,  do  you,  that  I  am  too  old  to  understand 
the  present  state  of  affairs  ?  Well,  this  is  all  there  is  of 
it :  I  can't  sleep  o'  nights.  Now,  wherein  is  this  gen- 
eral of  yours  so  great.''  Where  has  he  ever  shown 
it.?" 

"  It  would  take  too  long  to  tell,"  replied  the  son. 

"  Well,  then,  go  off  to  your  Bonaparte  !  Mile.  Bouri- 
enne,  here,  is  another  admirer  of  your  clodhopper  of  an 
emperor,"  he  cried,  in  excellent  French. 

**  You  know  that  I  am  not  a  Bonapartist,  prince." 

''  Dieit  salt  qiiand  il  reviendra,''  hummed  the  prince, 
in  his  falsetto ;  and  with  a  smile  that  was  still  more 
falsetto,  he  got  up  and  left  the  table. 

The  little  princess,  during  the  whole  time  of  the  dis- 
cussion and  the  rest  of  the  meal,  sat  in  silence,  looking 
in  alarm,  now  at  her  husband's  father,  now  at  the  Prin- 
cess Mariya.  After  they  left  the  table  she  took  her 
sister-in-law's  arm  and  drew  her  into  the  next  room. 

1  Russ  :  "  Was  born  in  his  shirt," 


144  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  How  bright  your  father  is,"  said  she;  "that's  proba 
bly  the  reason  that  he  makes  me  afraid  of  him." 
"  Ah,  he  is  so  good !  "  exclaimed  the  princesc. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

The  next  evening  Prince  Andrei  was  about  to  take 
his  departure.  The  old  prince,  not  making  any  change 
in  his  routine,  had  gone  to  his  room  immediately  after 
dinner.  The  young  wife  was  with  the  Princess  Many  a. 
Prince  Andrei',  having  put  on  a  traveling  coat  without 
epaulets,  was  engaged  in  his  room,  with  his  valet,  in 
packing  up.  He  himself  had  personally  looked  after 
the  carriage,  and  the  arrangement  of  his  luggage,  and 
ordered  the  horses  to  be  put  in.  In  the  chamber  re- 
mained only  those  things  that  he  always  took  with  him  : 
his  dressing-case,  a  huge  silver  bottle-holder,  two  Turk- 
ish pistols,  and  a  saber  which  his  father  had  captured 
at  Ochakof  and  presented  to  him.  All  these  appurte- 
nances had  been  put  in  the  most  perfect  order  ;  all  were 
bright  and  clean,  in  woolen  bags,  carefully  strapped. 

If  men  are  ever  inclined  to  think  about  their  actions, 
the  moment  when  they  are  about  to  go  away  and  enter 
upon  some  new  course  of  life  is  certain  to  induce  a 
serious  frame  of  mind.  Generally,  at  such  moments, 
the  past  comes  up  for  review,  and  plans  are  made  for 
the  future. 

Prince  Andrei's  face  was  very  thoughtful  and  tender. 
With  his  hands  behind  his  back,  he  was  walking  briskly, 
from  corner  to  corner,  up  and  down  the  room,  with  his 
eyes  fixed,  and  occasionally  shaking  his  head.  Was  it 
terrible  for  him  to  be  going  to  the  war,  or  was  he  a 
little  saddened  at  the  thought  of  leaving  his  wife  ? 
Perhaps  there  was  a  trifle  of  each  feeling.  However, 
hearing  steps  in  the  entry,  and  evidently  not  wishing 
to  be  seen  in  any  such  state,  he  hurriedly  dropped  his 
hands  and  paused  by  the  table,  as  if  engaged  in  fasten- 
ing the  cover  of  his  dressing-case,  and  his  face  became, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  145 

as  usual,  serene  and  impenetrable.     The  heavy  steps 
that  he  heard  were  those  of  the  Princess  Mariya. 

"  I  was  told  that  you  had  ordered  the  horses  put  in," 
said  she,  panting,  —  she  had  evidently  been  running,  — ; 
"  and  I  did  so  want  to  have  a  little  talk  with  you,  all 
alone.  God  knows  how  long  it  will  be  before  we  see 
each  other  again.  You  are  not  angry  with  me  for  com- 
ing ?  You  have  changed  very  much,  Andryusha,"  she 
added,  as  if  in  explanation  of  such  a  question. 

She  smiled  as  she  called  him  by  the  pet  diminutive, 
''  Andryusha."  Evidently  it  was  strange  for  her  to 
think  that  this  stern,  handsome  man  was  the  same  An- 
dryusha, the  slender,  frolicsome  lad  who  had  been  the 
playmate"  of  her  childhood.  A  smile  was  his  only  reply 
to  her  question. 

"  Where  is  Lise  .''  "  he  asked. 

"  She  was  so  tired  that  she  fell  asleep  on  the  divan 
in  my  room !  Oh,  Andre,  what  a  treasure  of  a  wife 
you  have,"  she  said,  as  she  sat  down  on  the  sofa,  facing 
her  brother.  **  She  is  a  perfect  child,  such  a  sweet, 
merry-hearted  child.  I  have  learned  to  love  her 
dearly!" 

Prince  Andrei  made  no  reply,  but  the  princess  noticed 
the  ironical  and  scornful  expression  which  her  words 
called  forth  on  his  face. 

"  But  you  must  be  indulgent  to  her  little  weaknesses ; 
who  is  there  that  is  without  them,  Andre  ?  You  must 
not  forget  that  she  was  educated  and  brought  up  in 
society.  And  besides,  her  position  is  now  not  all  roses. 
We  ought  always  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  an- 
other. To  understand  is  to  forgive.  Just  think  how 
hard  it  is  on  the  poor  little  woman,  after  the  gay  life 
to  which  she  is  accustomed,  to  be  parted  from  her  hus- 
band, and  to  be  left  alone  in  the  country,  and  in  her 
condition  !     It  is  very  hard  !  " 

Prince  Andrei  smiled  and  looked  at  his  sister,  as  we 
smile  when  we  look  at  people  whose  motives  are  per 
fectly  transparent  to  us. 

**  You  live  in  the  country  and  don't  find  this  life  so 
horrible,  do  vou  ?  " 


146  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"I?  —  but  that's  another  thing.  Why  should  you 
speak  about  me  ?  I  have  no  desire  for  any  other  life, 
because  I  have  never  known  any  other  life.  But  you 
think,  Andre,  what  it  is  for  a  fashionable  young  woman 
to  be  buried  for  the  best  years  of  her  life  in  the  country, 
alone,  too,  —  for  papenka  is  always  busy,  and  I,  —  you 
know  what  poor  company  I  am  for  a  woman  who  has 
been  accustomed  to  the  best  society.  There 's  only 
Mile.  Bourienne." 

**  Your  Bourienne  does  not  please  me  very  much," 
said  Prince  Andrei". 

"  Oh,  how  can  you  say  so  ?  She  is  very  kind  and 
good,  and,  what  is  more,  is  greatly  to  be  pitied.  She 
has  no  one,  no  one  at  all.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  she  is 
not  at  all  necessary;  if  anything,  she  is  in  my  way.  You 
know  that  I  have  always  been  somewhat  of  a  misan- 
thrope, and  now  more  than  ever  I  love  to  be  alone. 
/lfo?i  pere  is  very  fond  of  her.  She  and  Mikhail  Ivano- 
vitch  are  two  people  to  whom  he  is  always  polite  and 
kind,  because  both  of  them  are  under  obligations  to 
him  ;  as  Sterne  says,  '  We  do  not  love  men  so  much  for 
the  good  thkt  they  do  us,  as  for  the  good  that  we  do 
them.'  Man  ph'e  took  her  in  as  an  orphan  from  the 
street,  and  she  is  very  good,  and  mon  pkre  loves  her 
way  of  reading.  She  always  reads  aloud  to  him  in  the 
evening.     She  reads  beautifully." 

"  Now  truly,  Marie,  I  am  afraid  father's  temper  must 
be  very  trying  to  you  sometimes,  —  is  n't  it  so  .-^  "  asked 
Prince  Andrei  suddenly.  The  Princess  Many  a  was  at 
first  dumfounded,  then  terrified,  at  this  question. 

"  To  me  —  me  —  trying .?  "  she  stammered. 

"  He  has  always  been  harsh,  but  now  he  has  become 
desperately  trying,  I  should  think,"  said  Prince  Andrei, 
speaking  lightly  of  his  father,  apparently  for  the  sake 
of  perplexing  or  testing  his  sister. 

"  You're  good  to  every  one,  Andre,  but  you  have  such 
pride  of  intellect,"  said  the  princess,  following  the  trend 
of  her  own  thoughts  rather  than  the  course  of  the  con- 
versation. "  And  that  is  a  great  sin.  Have  we  any 
right  to  judge  our  father }     And  even  if  we  had,  what 


WAR    AND    PEACE  147 

other  feeling  besides  veneration  could  such  a  man  as 
mo7t  pere  inspire  ?  And  I  am  so  happy  and  content  to 
live  v/ith  him.  I  only  wish  that  all  were  as  happy 
as  I  am." 

Her  brother  shook  his  head  incredulously. 

"There  is  only  one  thing  that  is  hard  for  me  —  I  will 
tell  you  the  truth  about  it,  Andre  —  it  is  father's  ways 
of  thinking  of  religious  things.  I  cannot  understand 
how  a  man  with  such  an  immense  intellect  can  fail  to 
see  what  is  as  clear  as  day,  and  can  go  so  far  astray. 
This  is  the  one  thing  that  makes  me  unhappy.  But 
even  in  this  I  have  noticed  lately  a  shade  of  improve- 
ment. Lately  his  sarcasms  have  not  been  quite  so 
pronounced,  and  there  is  a  monk  whom  he  allowed  to 
come  in  and  have  a  long  talk  with  him." 

"  Well,  my  dear,  I  am  afraid  that  you  and  the  monk 
wasted  your  powder,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  in  a  jesting 
but  affectionate  way. 

"  Ah  !  my  dear  i  All  I  can  do  is  to  pray  to  God  and 
hope  that  he  will  hear  me.  Andre,"  she  said  timidly, 
after  a  moment's  silence,  *'  I  have  one  great  favor  to 
ask  of  you." 

'*  What  is  that,  my  dear  .?  " 

''  Promise  me  that  you  will  not  refuse  me.  It  won't 
be  any  trouble  to  you  at  all,  and  nothing  unworthy  of 
you  in  doing  it;  but  it  will  be  a  great  comfort  to  me. 
Promise  me,  Andryusha,"  said  she,  thrusting  her  hand 
into  her  reticule  and  holding  something  in  it  but  not  yet 
showing  it,  as  if  what  she  held  constituted  the  object 
of  her  request,  and  she  were  unwilling  to  take  this 
something  from  the  reticule,  until  she  were  assured  of 
his  promise  to  do  what  she  desired.  She  looked  at  her 
brother  with  a  timid,  beseeching  glance. 

"  Even  if  it  required  great  trouble,  I  would,"  replied 
Prince  Andrei,  evidently  foreseeing  what  the  request 
was. 

''Think  whatever  you  please,  —  I  know  that  you  are 
exactly  like  mon  phr,  —  think  whatever  you  please,  but 
do  this  for  my  sake.  Please  do!  My  father's  father, 
our  grandfather,  wore  it  in  all  his  battles."     Not  even 


148  WAR    AND    PEACE 

now  did  she  take  from  the  reticule  what  she  held  in  her 
hand.     "  So,  will  you  promise  me  ?  " 

"  But  what  is  it?" 

"  Andre,  I  give  you  this  little  picture  with  my  bless- 
ing, and  you  must  promise  me  that  you  will  never  take 
it  off.     Will  you  promise  ?  " 

"  If  it  does  not  weigh  two  poods  ^  and  won't  break 
my  neck,  I  will  do  it  if  it  will  give  you  any  pleasure," 
but  at  that  instant,  noticing  the  pained  expression  which 
passed  over  his  sister's  face  at  this  jest,  he  regretted  it. 
"With  pleasure,  really  with  pleasure,  my  dear,"  he 
added. 

*'  He  will  save  and  pardon  you  against  your  own 
will;  He  will  bring  you  to  Himself,  because  in  Him 
alone  are  truth  and  peace,"  she  said,  in  a  voice  trem- 
bling with  emotion,  and  with  a  gesture  of  solemnity 
held  up  before  her  brother,  with  both  hands,  an  ancient 
oval  medallion  of  the  Saviour,  with  a  black  face  in  a 
silver  frame,  attached  to  a  silver  chain  of  delicate  work- 
manship. 

She  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  kissed  the  medallion, 
and  held  it  out  to  Andrei. 

*'  Please,  Andre,  for  my  sake." 

Her  large  eyes  were  kindled  by  the  rays  of  a  soft 
and  kindly  light  which  transfigured  her  thin,  sickly  face 
and  made  it  beautiful.  Her  brother  was  about  to  take 
the  medallion,  but  she  stopped  him.  He  understood 
what  she  meant,  and  crossed  himself  and  kissed  the 
image.  His  face  was  both  tender  (for  he  was  touched) 
and,  at  the  same  time,  ironical. 

"Thanks,  my  dear." 

She  kissed  him  on  the  brow  and  again  sat  down  on 
the  divan.     Both  were  silent. 

"As  I  was  saying  to  you,  Andre,  be  kind  and 
magnanimous  as  you  always  used  to  be.  Don't  judge 
Lise  harshly,"  she  began  after  a  little.  "  She  is  so 
sweet,  so  good !  and  her  position  is  very  hard  just 
now." 

"  Why,  Masha,  I  have  not  told  you  that  I  have  found 

1  A  pood  is  thirty-six  pounds  avoirdupois. 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


49 


any  iault  with  my  wife,  or  been  vexed  with  her.  Why 
do  you  say  such  things  to  me  ? " 

The  Princess  Mariya  flushed  in  patches  and  was 
silent  as  if  she  felt  guilty. 

**  I  have  not  said  anything  to  you,  but  some  one  has 
been  talking  to  you.     And  I  am  sorry  for  that." 

The  red  patches  flamed  still  more  noticeably  on  the 
Princess  Mariya's  forehead,  neck,  and  cheeks.  She 
tried  to  say  something,  but  speech  failed  her.  Her 
brother  had  guessed  right ;  his  little  wife  after  dinner 
had  wept,  and  confessed  her  forebodings  about  the 
birth  of  her  baby,  and  how  she  dreaded  it,  and  poured 
out  her  complaints  against  her  fate  and  her  father-in- 
law  and  her  husband.  And  after  she  had  cried,  she 
fell  asleep. 

Prince  Andrei"  was  sorry  for  his  sister. 

**  I  wish  you  to  know  this,  Masha,  that  I  find  no  fault 
with  my  wife,  I  never  have  found  fault  with  her  and 
never  shall,  and  there  is  nothing  for  which  I  can  re- 
proach myself ;  and  this  shall  always  be  so,  no  matter 
in  what  circumstances  I  find  myself.  But  if  you  wish 
to  know  the  truth  ....  do  you  wish  to  know  whether  I 
am  happy  .'*  I  tell  you.  No.  Is  she  happy  ?  No  !  Why 
is  it  ?     I  don't  know."  .... 

As  he  said  this,  he  got  up,  went  over  to  his  sister,  and 
bending  down  kissed  her  on  the  forehead.  His  hand- 
some eyes  showed  an  unwonted  gleam  of  sentiment  and 
kindliness,  though  he  looked  not  at  his  sister,  but  over 
her  head  at  the  dark  opening  of  the  door. 

**  Let  us  go  to  her,  it  is  time  to  say  good-by.  Or, 
rather,  you  go  ahead  and  wake  her,  and  I  will  follow 
you.  Petrushka,"  he  cried  to  the  valet,  "come  here; 
pick  up  those  things.  This  goes  under  the  seat ;  this 
at  the  right." 

The  Princess  Mariya  got  up  and  directed  her  steps 
toward  the  door;  then  she  paused:  — 

"Andre,"  said  she,  in  French,  "if  you  had  faith, 
you  would  have  implored  God  to  give  you  the  love 
which  you  do  not  feel,  and  your  prayer  would  have 
been  heard." 


ISO  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"Yes,  perhaps  so,"  said  Prince  Andrei".  "Go  on, 
Masha,  I  will  follow  immediately." 

On  the  way  to  his  sister's  room,  in  the  gallery  which 
connected  one  part  of  the  house  with  the  other,  Prince 
Andrei  met  the  sweetly  smiling  Mile.  Bourienne.  It  was 
the  third  time  that  she  had  crossed  his  path  that  day  in 
the  corridor,  and  with  the  same  enthusiastic  and  naive 
smile. 

"  Ah,  I  thought  you  were  in  your  own  room,"  said 
she,  blushing  a  little,  and  dropping  her  eyes. 

Prince  Andrei  looked  at  her  sternly.  His  face  sud- 
denly grew  wrathful.  He  gave  her  no  answer,  but 
looked  at  her  forehead  and  hair,  not  into  her  eyes, 
with  such  a  scornful  expression  that  the  little  French- 
woman flushed  scarlet  and  turned  away  without  another 
word. 

When  he  reached  his  sister's  room,  the  princess,  his 
wife,  was  already  awake,  and  her  blithe  voice  was  heard 
through  the  open  door.  She  was  chattering  as  fast  as 
her  tongue  would  let  her,  as  if  she  were  anxious  to  make 
up  for  lost  time,  after  long  repression  :  — 

"  No,  Marie,  but  just  imagine  the  old  Countess  Zu- 
bova,  with  her  false  curls  and  a  mouth  full  of  false 
teeth,  as  if  she  were  trying  to  cheat  old  age !  ha !  ha ! 
ha!" 

Prince  Andrei  had  heard  his  wife  get  off  exactly  the 
same  phrase  about  the  Countess  Zubova,  and  the  same 
joke,^  at  least  five  times.  He  went  quietly  into  the 
room.  The  princess,  plump  and  rosy,  was  sitting  in  an 
easy-chair,  with  her  work  in  her  hands,  and  was  talking 
an  incessant  stream,  repeating  her  Petersburg  remi- 
niscences, and  even  the  familiar  Petersburg  phrases. 
Prince  Andrei  went  up  to  her,  smoothed  her  hair,  and 
asked  if  she  felt  rested  from  her  journey.  She  an- 
swered him  and  went  on  with  her  story. 

A  coach  with  a  six-in-hand  was  waiting  at  the  front 
entrance.  It  was  a  dark,  autumn  night.  The  coach- 
man could  not  see  the  pole  of  the  carriage.     Men  with 

^  Zud,  from  which  the  name  Zubova  is  derived,  means  "  tooth." 


WAR    AND    PEACE  151 

lanterns  were  standing  on  the  door-steps.  The  great 
mansion  was  aUve  with  hghts,  shining  through  the  lofty 
windows.  The  domestics  were  gathered  in  the  entry  to 
say  good-by  to  the  young  prince  ;  all  the  household  were 
collected  in  the  hall:  Mikhail  Ivanovitch,  Mile.  Bou- 
rienne,  the  Princess  Mariya,  and  her  sister-in-law.  Prince 
Andrei  had  been  summoned  to  his  father's  cabinet, 
where  the  old  prince  wished  to  bid  him  good-by  privately. 
All  were  waiting  for  their  coming. 

When  Prince  Andrei  went  into  the  cabinet,  the  old 
prince,  with  spectacles  on  his  nose  and  in  his  white 
dressing-gown,  in  which  he  never  received  any  one 
except  his  son,  was  sitting  at  the  table  and  writing.  He 
looked  around. 

"  Are  you  off .?  "  and  he  went  on  with  his  writing. 

"  I  have  come  to  bid  you  good-by." 

**  Kiss  me  here."  He  indicated  his  cheek.  "Thank 
you,  thank  you." 

**  Why  do  you  thank  me }  " 

''Because  you  don't  dilly-dally,  because  you  don't 
hang  on  to  your  wife's  petticoats.  Service  before  all ! 
Thank  you  !  thank  you  !  " 

And  he  went  on  with  his  writing  so  vigorously  that 
the  ink  flew  from  his  sputtering  pen.  "  If  you  have 
anything  t6  say,  speak.  I  can  attend  to  these  two 
things  at  once,"  he  added. 

"About  my  wife  —  I  am  so  sorry  to  be  obliged  to 
leave  her  on  your  hands." 

"What  nonsense  is  that }     Tell  me  what  you  want" 

"  When  it  is  time  for  my  wife  to  be  confined,  send  to 
Moscow  for  an  accoticheiir.     Have  him  here  early." 

The  old  prince  paused,  and  pretending  not  to  under- 
stand, fixed  his  stern  eyes  on  his  son. 

"  I  know  that  no  one  can  help,  if  nature  does  not  do 
her  work,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  evidently  confused;  "  I 
am  aware  that  out  of  millions  of  cases  only  one  goes 
amiss ;  but  this  is  her  whim  and  mine.  They  have  been 
talking  to  her,  she  had  a  dream,  and  she  is  afraid." 

"  Hm !  hm !  "  growled  the  old  prince,  taking  up  his 
pen  again.     "I  will  do  so."     He  wrote  a  few  more  line& 


152  WAR   AND    PEACE 

su'ddenly  turned  upon  his  son,  and  said  with  a  sneer, 
"  Bad  business,  hey  ?  " 

"  What  is  bad,  batyushka  ?  " 

"  Wife  !  "  said  the  old  prince,  with  laconic  significance. 

'*  I  don't  understand  you,"  said  Prince  Andref. 

"  Well,  there 's  nothing  to  be  done  about  it,  little 
friend,"  said  the  prince ;  '*  they  're  all  alike,  there  's  no 
way  of  getting  unmarried.  Don't  be  disturbed,  I  won't 
tell  any  one,  but  you  know  't  is  so." 

He  seized  his  son's  hand  in  his  small,  bony  fingers 
and  shook  it,  looking  him  straight  in  the  face  with  his 
keen  eyes,  which  seemed  to  look  through  a  man,  and 
then  once  more  laughed  his  cold  laugh. 

The  son  sighed,  thereby  signifying  that  his  father 
read  him  correctly.  The  old  man  continued  to  fold  and 
seal  his  letters  with  his  usual  rapidity,  and  when  he  had 
finished  he  caught  up  and  put  away  the  wax,  the  seal, 
and  the  paper. 

"  What  can  you  do  ?  She 's  a  beauty  !  I  will  see 
that  everything  is  done.  Be  easy  on  that  score,"  said 
he,  abruptly,  as  he  sealed  the  last  letter. 

Andrei  made  no  reply :  it  was  both  pleasant  and  dis- 
agreeable to  have  his  father  understand  him  so  well. 
The  old  man  stood  up  and  handed  a  letter  to  his  son. 

''Listen,"  said  he,  "don't  worry  about*  your  wife. 
Whatever  can  be  done,  shall  be  done.  Now  listen : 
give  this  letter  to  Mikhail  Ilarionovitch.^  I  have  written 
him  to  employ  you  in  the  good  places,  and  not  keep  you 
too  long  as  aide, — it's  a  nasty  position.  Tell  him  I 
remember  him  with  affection,  and  write  me  how  he  re- 
ceives you.  If  all  goes  well,  stay  and  serve  him. 
Nikolai"  Andreyitch  Bolkonsky's  son  must  not  serve  any 
one  from  mere  favoritism.      Now,  come  here." 

He  spoke  so  rapidly  that  he  did  not  finish  half  of  his 
words,  but  his  son  understood  him ;  he  led  him  to  a 
desk,  threw  back  a  lid,  opened  a  little  box,  and  took  out 
a  note-book,  written  in  his  own  large,  angular,  but  close 
hand. 

**  I    shall   probably  die   before  you  do.     Remember, 
1  Kutdzof. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  153 

these  are  my  memoirs ;  they  are  to  be  given  to  the  em- 
peror, after  my  death.  Now,  see  here,  take  this  bank- 
note  and  this  letter :  this  is  a  prize  for  the  one  who 
shall  write  a  history  of  the  wars  of  Suvorof ;  send  it  to 
the  Academy.  Here  are  my  notes ;  after  I  am  gone 
you  may  read  them,  you  will  find  them  worth  your 
while." 

Andrei'  did  not  tell  his  father  that  he  would  probably 
live  a  long  time  yet.  He  felt  that  it  was  not  necessary 
to  say  that. 

"  I  will  do  it  all,  batyushka,"  said  he. 

"Well,  then,  good-by."  He  offered  him  his  hand  to 
kiss,  and  then  gave  him  an  embrace.  "  Remember  one 
thing,  Prince  Andrei  ;  if  you  are  killed  it  will  be  hard 
for  me  to  bear  ;  I  am  an  old  man  ....  "  He  unexpectedly 
paused,  and  then  as  suddenly  proceeded,  in  a  tempestu- 
ous voice  :  "  But  if  I  should  hear  that  you  had  behaved 
unworthy  of  a  son  of  Nikolai  Bolkonsky,  I  should  be  — 
ashamed,"  he  hissed. 

"  You  should  not  have  said  that  to  me,  batyushka," 
replied  the  son,  with  a  smile. 

The  old  man  was  silent. 

"  I  have  still  another  request  to  make  of  you,"  Prince 
Andrei  went  on  to  say.  ''  If  I  should  be  killed,  and  if 
a  son  should  be  born  to  me,  don't  let  him  go  from  you, 
as  I  was  saying  last  evening.  Let  him  grow  up  under 
your  roof,  please." 

*'  Not  let  your  wife  have  him  }  "  asked  the  old  man, 
and  tried  to  laugh. 

Both  stood  in  silence  for  some  moments,  facing  each 
other.  The  old  man's  keen  eyes  gazed  straight  into  his 
son's.  There  was  a  slight  tremor  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  old  prince's  face. 

**  We  have  said  good-by,  now  go !  "  said  he^  sud- 
denly. "  Go !  "  he  cried  in  a  stern,  loud  voice,  open- 
ing his  cabinet  door. 

*'  What  is  it  ?  what 's  the  matter  }  "  asked  Prince 
Andrei's  wife  and  sister,  as  the  young  man  came  out, 
and  they  caught  a  momentary  glimpse  of  the  old  prince, 
in  his  white  dressing-gown,  and  without  his  wig,  and  in 


154  WAR   AND    PEACE 

his  spectacles,  as  he  appeared  at  the  door,  screaming  at 
his  son. 

Prince  Andrei  sighed,  and  made  no  answer. 

"Well?"  said  he,  turning  to  his  wife,  and  this  "well 
{nuy  sounded  chillingly  sarcastic,  as  if  he  had  said, 
"  Now  begin  your  little  comedy." 

"  Andre,  already  .''  "  said  the  little  wife,  turning  pale, 
and  fixing  her  terror-stricken  eyes  on  her  husband.  He 
took  her  in  his  arms ;  she  gave  a  cry,  and  fell  fainting 
on  his  shoulder. 

He  carefully  disengaged  himself  from  her  form, 
looked  into  her  face,  and  tenderly  laid  her  in  an  arm- 
chair. 

"Adieu,  Marie,"  said  he,  gently,  to  his  sister,  kissed 
her  hand,  and  hastened  out  of  the  room. 

The  fainting  princess  lay  in  the  chair;  Mile.  Bou- 
rienne  chafed  her  temples.  The  Princess  Mariya,  hold- 
ing her  up,  was  still  looking,  with  her  lovely  eyes  dim 
with  tears,  at  the  door  through  which  Prince  Andrei 
had  disappeared,  and  her  blessing  followed  him. 

In  the  cabinet  the  old  prince  was  heard  repeatedly 
blowing  his  nose,  with  sharp,  angry  reports,  like  pistol- 
shots.  Prince.  Andrei  had  hardly  left  the  room  when 
the  cabinet  door  was  hurriedly  flung  open,  and  the 
prince's  stern  figure  appeared  in  the  white  khalat. 

"  Has  he  gone  t  "  he  asked  ;  "  well,  it  is  just  as  well," 
said  he.  Then,  looking  angrily  at  the  unconscious  little 
princess,  he  shook  his  head  reproachfully,  and  clapped 
the  door  to  after  him. 


PART   SECOND 


CHAPTER  I 

IN  October,  1805,  the  Russian  army  were  cantoned  in 
certain  villages  and  towns  in  the  archduchy  of 
Austria,  making  a  heavy  burden  for  the  inhabitants, 
and  still  new  regiments  were  on  the  way  from  Russia, 
and  concentrating  around  the  fortress  of  Braunau,  where 
Kutuzof,  the  commander-in-chief,  had  his  headquarters. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  October  of  that  year,  one  of 
the  many  regiments  of  infantry  that  had  just  arrived 
stopped  about  half  a  mile  from  the  city,  waiting  to  be 
reviewed  by  the  commander-in-chief.  Notwithstanding 
the  un-Russian  landscape  —  orchards,  stone  walls,  tiled 
roofs,  and  mountains  on  the  horizon  —  and  the  un-Rus- 
sian aspect  of  the  people,  who  gathered  to  look  with 
curiosity  at  the  soldiers,  this  regiment  presented  exactly 
the  same  appearance  as  every  other  Russian  regiment 
getting  ready  for  inspection  anywhere  in  the  center  of 
Russia. 

The  evening  before,  during  their  last  march,  word 
had  been  received  that  the  commander-in-chief  would 
review  the  regiment.  The  words  of  the  order  had  not 
seemed  altogether  clear  to  the  regimental  commander, 
and  the  question  having  arisen,  how  it  was  to  be  taken, 
—  were  they  to  be  in  marching  order  or  not  ?  —  he 
called  a  council  of  officers,  at  which  it  was  decided  that 
the  regiment  should  be  presented  in  parade  dress,  on 
the  principle  that  it  is  always  better  to  go  beyond  than 
not  to  come  up  to  the  requirements.  And  the  soldiers, 
after  a  march  of  three  hundred  versts,  during  which  they 
had  not  once  closed  their  eyes,  were  kept  all  night 
mending  and  cleaning;  the  aides  and  captains  classified 
and  enrolled  their  men,  and  by  morning  the  regiment, 
instead  of  a  straggling,  disorderly  mob,  such  as  it  had 

»55 


156  WAR   AND    PEACE 

been  during  the  last  stage  of  their  march,  presented  a 
compact  mass  of  two  thousand  men,  each  one  of  whom 
knew  his  place  and  his  duty  ;  every  button  and  every 
strap  were  in  order,  and  shining  with  neatness. 

Not  only  were  all  the  externals  put  into  perfect  order, 
but  if  the  commander-in-chief  should  take  it  into  his 
head  to  look  under  the  uniforms,  then  he  would  have 
found  that  each  man  had  on  a  clean  shirt,  and  that  in 
each  knapsack  were  the  required  number  of  things, 
'' shiltse  i  niiltse''  —  awl  and  soap  —  as  the  soldiers 
express  it. 

There  was  only  one  particular  in  regard  to  which  no 
one  could  be  satisfied ;  that  was  the  footwear.  The 
shoes  of  more  than  half  of  the  men  were  in  tatters.  But 
this  lack  was  not  the  fault  of  the  regimental  commander, 
since,  notwithstanding  his  repeated  demands,  the  neces- 
sary goods  had  not  been  furnished  by  the  Austrian 
commissariat,  and,  moreover,  the  regiment  had  marched 
a  thousand  versts. 

The  regimental  commander  was  an  elderly  general,  of 
sanguine  complexion,  with  gray  brows  and  side-whiskers ; 
he  was  stout  and  broad ;  the  distance  from  his  chest  to 
his  back  was  greater  than  across  his  shoulders.  He 
wore  a  brand-new  uniform,  which  showed  the  creases 
caused  by  the  garments  having  been  folded,  and  on  his 
shoulders  were  heavy  gold  epaulets,  which  raised  his  fat 
shoulders  still  higher. 

The  regimental  commander  had  the  aspect  of  a  man 
who  had  happily  accomplished  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant functions  of  life.  He  marched  up  and  down  in 
front  of  the  line,  and  as  he  marched  he  shook  at  every 
step,  slightly  bending  his  back.  It  could  be  seen  that 
the  regimental  commander  was  very  fond  of  his  regi- 
ment, and  felt  happy  at  the  idea  that  all  his  mental 
faculties  were  absorbed  in  it.  But,  nevertheless,  his 
pompous  gait  seemed  to  insinuate  that  over  and  above 
his  military  interests  there  was  still  left  no  small  room 
in  his  heart  for  the  affairs  of  society  and  the  female  sex. 

**  Well,  batyushka,  Mikhailo  Mitritch,"  said  he,  turning 
to  one  of  the  battalion  commanders,  who  stepped  forward 


WAR   AND    PEACE  157 

with  a  smile  (it  was  evident  that  they  were  all  happy), 
"  we  had  a  pretty  tough  tussle  last  night,  did  n't  we  ? 
However,  according  to  my  idea  our  regiment  is  n't  one 
of  the  worst,  hey  ?  " 

The  battalion  commander  appreciated  the  jocund 
irony  and  laughed. 

**No,  we  should  not  be  driven  off  from  the  Empress's 
Field."  1 

**  What  is  it .?  "  asked  the  commander,  catching  sight 
of  two  horsemen  galloping  along  the  road  to  the  city, 
lined  with  signal  men.  It  was  an  aide  with  a  Cossack 
riding  behind  him. 

The  aide  had  been  sent  from  headquarters  to  explain 
what  had  been  enigmatical  in  the  last  evening's  order, 
and  especially  to  insist  upon  it  that  the  commander-in- 
chief  wished  to  review  the  regiment  in  exactly  the  con- 
dition in  which  it  had  arrived  —  in  cloaks,  gun-covers, 
and  without  any  preparations  whatever  ! 

The  evening  before,  it  had  happened  that  a  member 
of  the  Hofkriegsrath  had  arrived  from  Vienna,  asking 
and  urging  that  Kutuzof  should  make  all  haste  to  join 
the  allied  armies  under  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  and 
General  Mack ;  and  Kutuzof,  considering  that  this 
junction  was  not  advantageous,  desired  to  exhibit  in 
support  of  his  own  theories,  and  to  have  the  Austrian 
general  see  for  himself,  the  pitiable  state  in  which  the 
army  from  Russia  had  arrived.  With  this  end  in  view 
he  was  anxious  to  find  the  regiment  in  marching  order, 
and  therefore  the  worse  the  situation  of  the  men  the 
more  agreeable  it  would  be  to  him.  The  aide  knew 
nothing  about  these  reasons,  but  he  transmitted  to  the 
regimental  commander  the  general-in-chief's  urgent  de- 
sire that  the  men  should  be  in  marching  order,  and 
added  that  if  it  were  otherwise  the  commander-in-chief 
would  be  very  much  offended. 

On  hearing  these  words,  the  regimental  commander 
hung  his  head,  silently  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and 
spread  his  hands  with  a  despairing  gesture. 

"  This  is  great  doings  !  "  he  cried.     *'  It 's  what  I  told 

^  Tsaritsuin  Lug,  a  famous  parade  ground  near  St.  Petersburg.  —  Tr. 


158  WAR    AND    PEACE 

you,  Mikhailo  Mitritch  —  in  marching  order,  in  cloaks," 
said  he,  turning  reproachfully  to  the  battalion  com- 
mander. "Akh!  my  God,"  he  exclaimed,  and  stepped 
resolutely  forward.  "  Gentlemen  !  Company  com- 
manders !  "  he  cried  in  a  voice  accustomed  to  command. 
"Sergeants! — Will  they  be  here  soon?"  he  asked, 
turning  to  the  aide  with  an  expression  of  deferential 
politeness  evidently  proportioned  to  the  dignity  of  the 
personage  of  whom  he  was  speaking. 

"Within  an  hour,  I  think." 

"  Shall  we  have  time  to  make  the  change  ?  "  '' 

"  I  don't  know,  general." 

The  regimental  commander,  hastening  into  the  ranks, 
made  the  dispositions  for  changing  back  into  marching 
costume  again.  The  company  commanders  ran  to  their 
companies,  the  sergeants  bustled  about  (the  cloaks  had 
not  yet  been  put  in  perfect  order)  and  in  an  instant  the 
solid  squares,  which  had  just  been  standing  silently  and 
orderly,  stirred,  stretched  out,  and  began  to  buzz  with 
busy  voices.  Soldiers  were  running  in  every  direction, 
getting  their  knapsacks  on  their  shoulders  and  over 
their  heads,  taking  down  their  cloaks  and  lifting  their 
arms  high  in  the  air,  trying  to  get  them  into  their 
sleeves. 

Within  half  an  hour  the  whole  regiment  was  in  the 
same  order  as  before ;  only  the  squares  were  transformed 
from  black  to  gray.  The  regimental  commander  was 
again  walking  up  and  down  in  front  of  the  regiment 
with  the  same  tottering  gait,  and  inspecting  it  from  a 
distance. 

"  What  does  that  mean  }  What  is  that  ?  "  he  cried, 
suddenly  halting.     "  Commander  of  the  third  company ! " 

"  The  general  wants  the  commander  of  the  third  com- 
pany .... " 

"  The  general  wants  the  commander  of  the  third  !  " .... 
"  The  general  wants  the  commander  of  the  third  com- 
pany !  "  cried  various  voices  along  the  ranks,  and  an 
aide  hastened  to  discover  the  missing  officer. 

Even  while  the  sounds  of  gruff  voices  commingling, 
and  som^e  even  crying  "  The  company  wants  the  gen- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  159 

eral,"  rang  along  the  lines,  the  missing  officer  appeared 
from  behind  his  company,  and,  although  he  was  well  on 
in  years  and  not  used  to  running,  he  came  toward  the 
general  at  an  awkward  dog-trot  on  his  tiptoes. 

The  captain's  face  expressed  such  anxiety  as  a  school- 
boy feels  when  he  is  called  upon  to  recite  a  lesson  which 
has  not  been  learned.  His  nose  was  red  and  covered 
with  blotches  (evidently  caused  by  intemperance)  and 
his  mouth  twitched  nervously.  The  regimental  com- 
mander surveyed  the  delinquent  captain  from  head  to 
foot,  as  he  came  up,  panting,  and  slackening  his  pace  as 
he  approached. 

**  Do  you  let  your  men  wear  women's  sarafans  ? 
What  does  that  mean  ? "  cried  the  regimental  com- 
mander, thrusting  out  his  lower  jaw  and  pointing  to 
a  soldier  in  the  ranks  of  the  third  company  who  wore  a 
colored  capote  of  broadcloth  in  violent  contrast  with  the 
cloaks  of  the  other  soldiers.  *'  Where  have  you  been  ? 
The  commander-in-chief  is  expected,  and  here  you  are 
out  of  your  place!  —  Hey.'*  —  I  will  teach  you  to^ress 
your  men  in  Cossack  coats  for  review !  —  Hey !  " 

The  company  commander,  not  taking  his  eyes  from 
his  chief,  kept  his  two  fingers  at  his  visor,  as  if  he 
found  his  salvation  now  in  this  one  position  alone. 

"  Well,  why  don't  you  speak  ?  Whom  have  you 
there,  in  that  Hungarian  costume  .!* "  sternly  demanded 
the  regimental  commander,  with  grim  facetiousness. 

**  Your  excellency  ....  " 

**  Well,  what  of  j/our  excellejicy  ?  *  Your  excellency  ' ! 
and  *  your  excellency  ' !  But  what  does  ....  do  you  mean 
by  '  your  excellency '  "i  ^    Nobody  knows  what  you  mean ! " 

*'  Your  excellency,  that  is  Dolokhof,  cashiered,"  stam- 
mered the  captain. 

"Well,  was  he  cashiered  to  be  a  field-marshal,  or  a 
private .?  If  as  a  private,  then  he  ought  to  be  dressed 
like  the  others,  in  uniform  !  " 

"■  Your  excellency,  you  yourself  allowed  him  to  dress 
so  on  the  march." 

"  Allowed  him  .?     Allowed  him  .?     That 's  always  the 

1  Vdshe  prevaskhodiyelstvo. 


i6o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

way  with  you  young  men,"  said  the  regimental  com- 
mander, cooUng  down  a  little.  **  Allowed  him  ?  We 
tell  you  one  thing  and  you...."  The  regimental  com- 
mander paused.  "We  tell  you  one  thing  and  you.... 
well!"  said  he,  with  a  fresh  access  of  temper,  "be 
good  enough  to  have  your  men  dressed  decently."  .... 

And  the  regimental  commander  glanced  at  the  aide 
and  proceeded  along  the  line  with  his  faltering  gait.  It 
could  be  seen  that  his  outburst  of  temper  had  given  him 
great  satisfaction,  and  that  as  he  passed  along  the  line 
he  wanted  to  find  some  excuse  for  further  violence. 
Berating  one  officer  for  not  having  a  clean  gorget,  and 
another  for  having  his  company  "dressed"  unevenly, 
he  proceeded  to  company  three.  "  H-o-o-o-ow  are  you 
standing  ?  Where  is  your  leg .''  Your  leg !  where  is 
it  .? "  screamed  the  regimental  commander,  with  a  sug- 
gestion of  keen  suffering  in  his  voice,  passing  by  half  a 
dozen  men  to  come  to  Dolokhof,  who  was  dressed  in  a 
blue  cloak. 

Dolokhof  slowly  straightened  his  bended  leg,  and, 
with  his  keen,  bold  eyes,  stared  into  the  general's  face. 

"Why   that   blue    cloak.?     Off   with   it!     Sergeant! 
strip  him.     The  blun....  " 
■    He  did  not  have  time  to  finish. 

"  General,  I  am  bound  to  fulfil  orders,  but  I  am  not 
bound  to  put  up  with ....  "  began  Dolokhof,  hastily. 

"  No  talking  in  the  ranks  !     No  talking,  no  talking !  " 

"  I  am  not  bound  to  put  up  with  insults,"  cried  Dolo- 
khof, in  a  loud,  ringing  voice.  The  eyes  of  the  general 
and  the  private  met. 

The  general  said  no  more,  but  angrily  pulled  down 
his  tight  belt. 

"  Have  the  goodness  to  change  your  coat,  I  beg  of 
you,"  said  h€,  as  he  turned  away. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  i6i 


CHAPTER   II 

"  He  is  coming,"  cried  one  of  the  signalmen. 

The  regimental  commander,  flushing  scarlet,  ran  to 
his  horse,  adjusted  the  stirrup  with  trembling  hands, 
threw  himself  into  the  saddle,  straightened  himself  up, 
drew  his  saber,  and,  with  a  radiant,  resolute  face,  drew 
his  mouth  to  one  side,  ready  to  shout  his  order,  A 
shiver  ran  through  the  regiment,  as  if  it  were  a  bird 
about  to  spread  its  wings ;  then  it  became  motionless. 

"  Eyes  fr-r-r-r-ront ! "  cried  the  regimental  commander, 
in  a  voice  trembling  with  emotion ;  pleasant  as  it  sounded 
to  himself,  it  was  peremptory  toward  the  regiment,  and 
suggestive  of  welcome  to  the  approaching  chief. 

Along  the  broad  highway,  unpaved,  shaded  with 
trees,  came  a  high  Viennese  calash,  painted  blue,  and 
swinging  easily  on  its  springs,  as  its  six  horses  trotted 
briskly  along.  Behind  it  galloped  the  suite  and  an 
escort  of  Kroatians.  Next  Kutuzof  sat  the  Austrian 
general,  in  a  white  uniform,  contrasting  strangely  with 
the  dark  Russian  ones.  The  calash  drew  up  near  the 
regiment.  Kutuzof  and  the  Austrian  general  were  en- 
gaged in  conversation  in  low  tones,  and  Kutuzof  smiled 
slightly,  as  he  slowly  and  heavily  stepped  down  from 
the  carriage,  exactly  as  if  the  two  thousand  men  who 
were  breathlessly  gazing  at  him,  and  the  regimental 
commander,  did  not  exist. 

The  word  of  command  rang  out,  again  the  regiment 
stirred  into  life,  and  presented  arms.  In  the  dead  si- 
lence the  commander-in-chief's  weak  voice  was  heard. 

The  regiment  shouted,  "  Long  life  to  your  hi-i-ighness ! " 
and  again  all  was  still. 

At  first  Kutuzof  stood  where  he  was  and  watched  the 
regiment  go  through  its  evolution ;  then,  side  by  side 
with  the  general  in  the  white  uniform,  and  accompanied 
by  his  suite,  he  started  to  walk  down  the  line. 

By  the  way  in  which  the  regimental  commander  had 
saluted  his  chief,  and  kept  his  eyes  fastened  upon  him, 
and   now  followed   behind   the   two    generals    as  they 

VOL.  I.  —  II  i 


i62  WAR    AND    PEACE 

walked  dowrx  the  lines,  and  by  the  way  that  he  drew 
himself  up  and  bent  forward  to  listen  to  every  word 
that  fell  from  their  lips,  it  was  evident  that  he  fulfilled 
his  duties  as  a  subordinate  with  even  greater  satisfac- 
tion than  he  did  those  of  a  commander.  The  regiment, 
thanks  to  the  commander's  stern  discipline  and  strenu- 
ous endeavors,  was  in  excellent  condition  compared  to 
the  others  which  had  come  to  Braunau  at  the  same 
time ;  there  were  only  two  hundred  and  seventeen  sick 
and  stragglers ;  and  all  things  were  in  excellent  order, 
with  the  exception  of  the  shoes. 

Kutuzof  proceeded  down  the  ranks,  occasionally  stop- 
ping to  say  a  few  friendly  words  to  officers  or  even  pri- 
vates whom  he  had  known  during  the  war  with  Turkey. 
Glancing  at  their  shoes,  he  more  than  once  shook  his 
head  mournfully  and  directed  the  Austrian  general's 
attention  to  them  with  an  expression  which  meant  to 
imply  that  he  would  not  blame  any  one  for  it,  but  that 
he  could  not  avoid  seeing  how  wretched  it  was. 

The  regimental  commander,  each  time  that  he  did  so, 
pushed  forward,  fearing  to  lose  a  single  word  that  his 
chief  might  speak  regarding  his  regiment. 

Behind  Kutuzof,  just  near  enough  to  be  able  to  catch 
every  word,  however  lightly  spoken,  that  might  fall 
from  his  lips,  followed  the  twenty  men  of  his  suite, 
talking  among  themselves  and  occasionally  laughing. 
Nearest  to  the  commander-in-chief  walked  a  handsome 
aide ;  this  was  Prince  Bolkonsky.  Next  him  went  his 
messmate,  Nesvitsky  a  tall  and  remarkably  stalwart 
staff-officer,  with  a  kindly,  smiling,  handsome  face  and 
liquid  eyes.  Nesvitsky  could  hardly  refrain  from  laugh- 
ing at  the  antics  of  a  dark-complexioned  officer  of  hus- 
sars who  was  walking  near  him.  The  hussar  officer, 
without  smiling,  and  not  changing  the  serious  expres- 
sion of  his  eyes,  was  staring  at  the  regimental  com- 
mander's back  and  mimicking  his  every  motion.  Every 
time  that  the  general  tottered  and  pushed  forward,  the 
young  hussar  officer  would,  in  almost  precisely  the 
same  way,  totter  and  push  forward.  Nesvitsky  was 
amused,  and  nudged  the  others  to  look  at  the  mimic. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  163 

Kutuzof  walked  slowly  and  lazily  in  front  of  the  thou- 
sands of  eyes  that  were  starting  from  their  sockets  to 
follow  the  motions  of  the  chief.  As  he  came  along  to 
company  three,  he  suddenly  halted.  The  suite,  not 
anticipating  this  halt,  involuntarily  crowded  up  close 
to  him. 

'''  Ah,  Timokhin !  "  cried  the  commander-in-chief,  rec- 
ognizing the  red-nosed  captain,  — the  one  who  had  been 
obliged  to  suffer  on  account  of  the  blue  cloak. 

It  would  seem  as  if  it  were  impossible  for  him  to 
draw  himself  up  higher  than  he  had  done  during  the 
scolding  administered  by  the  regimental  commander. 
But  now  that  the  commander-in-chief  stopped  to  speak 
to  him,  the  captain  put  such  a  strain  upon  himself,  that  it 
seemed  as  if  he  could  not  stand  it  should  the  commander- 
in-chief  stay  a  moment  longer ;  and,  accordingly,  Kutu- 
zof, evidently  appreciating  his  position  and  being  anxious 
to  show  every  kindness  to  the  captain,  hastened  to  turn 
away,  a  scarcely  perceptible  smile  flitting  over  his 
plump,  scarred  face. 

**  Another  comrade  of  Izmailo  !  "  said  he.  "  A  brave 
officer  !  Are  you  satisfied  with  him  ?  "  asked  Kutuzof  of 
the  regimental  commander. 

The  regimental  commander,  who,  unknown  to  him- 
self, was  mimicked  as  in  a  mirror  by  the  officer  of 
hussars,  started  as  if  stung,  sprang  forward,  and  re- 
plied :  — 

"  Very  well  satisfied,  your  high  excellency."  ^ 

"  We  all  of  us  have  our  weaknesses,"  continued  Kutu- 
zof, smiling  and  turning  away.  "  His  used  to  be  his 
devotion  to  Bacchus." 

The  regimental  commander  was  alarmed  lest  he  were 
to  blame  for  this  and  found  no  words  to  reply.  The 
hussar  at  this  instant  caught  sight  of  the  captain  with 
the  red  nose  and  rounded  belly  and  perpetrated  such  an 
exact  imitation  of  his  face  and  pose  that  Nesvitsky 
laughed  outright.  Kutuzof  turned  around.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  young  officer  had  perfect  command  of  his 
features ;  for  at  the  instant  that  Kutuzof  turned  round 

^  Vds^e  viiisokoprevaskhodityehivo. 


1 64  WAR   AND    PEACE 

the  officer's  face  had  assumed  the  most  serious,  deferen- 
tial,  and  innocent  of  expressions. 

The  third  company  was  the  last  and  Kutuzof  paused, 
evidently  trying  to  recollect  something.  Prince  Andrei 
stepped  out  from  the  suite  and  said  in  French  in  an 
undertone :  — 

"  You  ordered  me  to  remind  you  of  Dolokhof,  who 
was  cashiered  to  this  regiment....  " 

**  Where  is  this  Dolokhof  .?" 

Dolokhof,  who  now  wore  the  gray  military  cloak,  did 
not  wait  to  be  summoned.  Kutuzof  saw  a  well-built  sol- 
dier with  light  curly  hair  and  bright  blue  eyes  come 
forth  from  the  ranks  and  present  arms. 

"  A  grievance  ?  "  asked  Kutuzof,  slightly  frowning. 

"That  is  Dolokhof,"  said  Prince  Andrei. 

"Ah!"  exclaimed  Kutuzof,  "I  hope  that  you  will 
profit  by  this  lesson.  Do  your  duty.  The  emperor  is 
merciful.  And  I  will  not  forget  you,  if  you  deserve 
well." 

The  clear  blue  eyes  looked  into  the  chief's  face  with 
the  same  boldness  as  at  the  regimental  commander's, 
their  expression  seeming  to  rend  the  veil  of  rank  that 
so  widely  separated  the  commander-in-chief  from  the 
private  soldier. 

"  I  should  like  to  ask  one  favor,  your  high  excel- 
lency," said  he,  deliberately,  in  his  firm,  ringing  voice ; 
"  I  beg  that  you  give  me  a  chance  to  wipe  out  my  fault 
and  show  my  devotion  to  his  majesty  the  emperor,  and 
to  Russia." 

Kutuzof  turned  away.  The  same  sort  of  smile  flashed 
over  his  face  and  through  his  eyes  as  at  the  time  when 
he  turned  away  from  Captain  Timokhin.  He  turned 
away  and  frowned,  as  if  he  wished  to  express  by  this 
that  all  that  Dolokhof  had  said  to  him  and  all  that  he 
could  possibly  say  to  him  he  had  known  long,  long  ago, 
and  that  it  was  all  a  bore  to  him  and  that  it  was  so 
much  wasted  breath.  He  turned  away  and  went  back 
to  the  calash. 

The  regiment  broke  up  into  companies  and  marched 
to  the  quarters  assigned  them  not  far  from  Braunau, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  165 

where  they  hoped  to  get  shoes  and  clothes  and  rest 
after  their  hard  marches. 

"  You  will  not  complain  of  me,  will  you,  Prokhor 
Ignatyitch,"  asked  the  regimental  commander,  gallop- 
ing after  the  third  company,  which  was  going  to  quarters, 
and  overtaking  Captain  Timokhin,  who  rode  at  their 
head.  The  regimental  commander's  face  shone  with 
unrestrained  delight  at  the  successful  outcome  of  the 
review.  *'The  service  of  the  Tsar....  one  can't  help.... 
another  time,  if  you  happen  to  be  out  of  line  ....  I  am 

the  first  to  apologize.     You  know  me Thank  you 

very  much !  " 

And  he  held  out  his  hand  to  the  captain. 

"  I  beg  of  you,  general !  how  could  I  think  of  such  a 
thing,"  replied  the  captain  ;  his  nose  grew  scarlet  and 
he  smiled,  the  smile  betraying  the  lack  of  two  front 
teeth  which  had  been  knocked  out  by  the  butt-end  of  a 
gun  at  Izmailo. 

"And  assure  Mr.  Dolokhof  that  I  shall  not  forget 
him  —  let  him  rest  easy  on  that  score.  And  tell  me, 
please,  I  have  been  wanting  for  some  time  to  ask  you, 
how  does  he  behave  ?     And  always  ...." 

"  He  is  very  regular  in  his  duty,  your  excellency  — 
but  his  temper ...."  said  Timokhin. 

"  Well,  what  of  his  temper }  "  demanded  the  regi- 
mental commander. 

"  Some  days,  your  excellency,  he  goes  it,"  said  the 
captain,  "  but  otherwise  he  is  intelligent  and  well-in- 
formed and  quiet.  And  then  again  he  is  a  wild  beast. 
In  Poland  he  almost  killed  a  Jew ;  you  must  know ....  " 

"Yes,  yes,"  said  the  regimental  commander.  ",We 
must  always  be  easy  on  a  young  man  in  misfortune. 
You  see  he  has  influential  connections ....  so  you  had 
better...." 

"  I  understand,  your  excellency,"  rejoined  Timokhin, 
with  a  smile  that  showed  that  he  understood  his  chief's 
desires. 

"Yes,  yes,  just  so  !  " 

The  regimental  commander  sought  out  Dolokhof  in 
the  ranks  and  reined  in  his  horse. 


i66  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  Epaulets  at  the  first  engagement !  "  said  he. 

Dolokhof  looked  up,  but  made  no  answer  and  did  not 
alter  the  expression  of  the  ironical  smile  that  curled  hir 
lips. 

*'  Well,  this  is  very  good,"  continued  the  regimental 
commander;  "  a  glass  of  vodka  to  the  men  from  me,"  he 
added,  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  the  soldiers.  "  I 
thank  you  all !  Slava  Bohu  —  glory  to  God  !  "  And 
he  rode  on  and  overtook  the  next  company. 

"  Well,  it 's  a  fact,  he  's  a  good  man  and  not  hard  to 
serve  under,"  said  Timokhin  to  a  subaltern  riding  next 
him. 

"  In  a  word,  very  hearty,"  said  the  subaltern  officer, 
laughing  at  his  own  joke.  The  regimental  commander 
was  nicknamed,  "The  King  of  Hearts." 

The  cheerful  frame  of  mind  felt  by  the  officers  after 
the  review  was  shared  also  by  the  men.  The  regiment 
marched  along  merrily.  On  all  sides  were  heard  the 
voices  of  the  soldiers  talking. 

"How  is  it.'^     They  say  Kutuzof  is  blind  of  one  eye.''" 

"Well,  so  he  is,  quite  blind." 

"  Nay,  brother,  he  can  see  better  than  you  can. 
He  inspected  our  boots  and  leg-wrappers  and  every- 
thing." 

"  How  he  looked  at  my  legs  !     It  seemed  to  me  ...." 

"And  that  other  one,  the  Avstriak  who  was  with 
him  !  I  should  think  he  was  whitewashed  !  White  as 
flour !     Think  what  a  job  to  clean  that  uniform  !  " 

"  Say,  Fedeshou,  did  he  say  when  we  should  begin  to 
be  on  our  guard  .''  You  were  standing  nearer  to  him  !  I 
was  told  that  Biinaparte  himself  is  at  Briuwva'' 

"  Bunaparte  here  !  what  a  lie,  you  fool !  Don't  you 
know  anything  }  Now  the  Pnisak  is  up  in  arms  ;  and 
the  Avstriak,  of  course,  have  got  to  put  him  down.  And 
when  he  's  put  down  then  there  '11  be  war  with  Buna- 
parte. And  they  say  Bunaparte  is  here  at  Brunova  1 
Anybody  could  see  you  was  a  fool !  Keep  your  ears 
peeled,  you  idiot !  " 

"  The  devil !  what  sort  of  quartermasters  these  are ! 
see !    there  's  the  fifth  company  turning  off   into   the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  167 

village ;  they  *11  have  their  kasha-pots  boiling,  and  here 
we  are  n't  in  yet !  " 

*'  Give  me  a  biscuit,  you  devil !  " 

"  Did  n't  I  gie  you  some  tobacky,  last  evening?  Too 
thin,  brother !     Well,  then,  God  be  with  you  !  " 

*'Oh  !  I  wish  they  'd  call  a  halt !  the  idea  of  marching 
five  versts  more  on  an  empty  stomach  !  " 

"What  you  'd  like  'd  be  for  those  Germans  to  give  us 
a  lift  in  their  carriages.  Then  you  'd  go  easy  enough ; 
that  would  be  fine  !  " 

*'  But  here,  brother,  see  all  these  beggarly  people 
come  out !  We  had  back  there  the  Polyaks,  they 
belonged  to  the  Russian  crown,  but  here,  brother,  there  's 
nothing  but  Germans  come  out." 

"  Singers  to  the  front !  "  cried  the  captain. 

A  score  of  men  from  the  different  companies  ran  to 
their  places  at  the  head  of  the  column.  The  drummer 
who  led  the  singing  faced  the  singers  and  waved  his 
arm  and  struck  up  the  drawling  soldier's  song  beginning 

with  the  words  :  — 

j- ' '  I 

"  /f  it  the  dawn,  and  has  the  red  sun  risen  ?  " 
and  ending :  — 

"  IVell^  boys,  what  glory  ive  shall  win  with  Father  Kamyensky?'' 

This  song  had  been  composed  in  Turkey,  and  was 
now  sung  in  Austria,  with  simply  this  variation,  that  in 
place  of  "  Father  Kamyensky,"  Father  Kutuzof  was  sub- 
stituted. 

The  drummer,  a  stalwart,  handsome  fellow,  forty 
years  old,  having  sung  these  last  words  in  a  soldierly 
style,  made  a  gesture  with  his  hands  as  if  he  were 
throwing  something  to  the  ground,  looked  sternly  at  his 
singers,  and  frowned.  Then,  feeling  the  consciousness 
that  all  eyes  were  fastened  upon  him,  he  lifted  his  arms 
high  above  his  head,  as  if  he  were  carrying  with  the 
greatest  care  some  invisible  and  precious  object,  and, 
holding  them  so  for  several  moments,  he  suddenly  flung 
it  down  with  a  despairing  gesture,  singing :  — 


1 68  WAR   AND   PEACE 

"  Akh  vui  situ,  viot  siniy''  ^ 

while  twenty  voices  took  up  the  refrain,  "  my  new  cot- 
tage," and  a  spoonmaker,  disregarding  the  weight  of 
his  equipment,  friskily  danced  ahead  and  walked  back- 
wards before  the  company,  shrugging  his  shoulders  and 
making  gestures  of  defiance  with  his  spoons. 

The  soldiers,  clapping  their  hands  in  time  with  the 
measure  of  the  song,  marched  on  in  step. 

Behind  them  were  heard  the  rattle  of  wheels,  the 
creaking  of  springs,  and  the  trampling  of  horses'  feet. 
It  was  Kutuzof  and  his  suite,  on  their  way  back  to  the 
city.  The  commander-in-chief  signified  that  the  men 
should  keep  on  as  they  were,  and  he  and  all  his  suite 
showed  by  their  faces  how  much  they  enjoyed  the  music 
of  the  songs,  the  sight  of  the  dancing  soldier,  and  the 
bold  and  buoyant  appearance  of  the  company. 

Conspicuous  in  the  second  file  of  the  right  flank,  near 
which  the  calash  passed,  was  Dolokhof,  the  blue-eyed 
soldier,  who  was  marching  along  with  an  extraordinarily 
bold  and  graceful  gait,  keeping  time  to  the  song  and 
looking  into  the  faces  of  those  who  passed,  with  an 
expression  as  if  he  pitied  all  who  did  not  march  with 
his  company.  The  cornet  of  hussars  in  Kutuzof's 
suite,  who  had  mimicked  the  regimental  commander,  fell 
behind  the  calash  and  drew  up  alongside  of  Dolokhof. 

Zherkof,  this  cornet  of  hussars,  had  at  one  time  be- 
longed to  the  same  wild  set  in  Petersburg  of  which 
Dolokhof  was  the  leader.  Here,  abroad,  Zherkof  met' 
Dolokhof  in  the  ranks,  but  did  not  find  it  expedient  to 
recognize  him  at  first.  Now,  however,  since  Kutuzof 
had  set  the  example  by  talking  with  the  degraded  offi- 
cer, he  went  to  him  with  all  the  cordiality  of  an  old 
friend. 

"  My  dear  fellow,  how  are  you .? "  said  he,  right  in 
the  midst  of  the  song,  as  he  walked  his  horse  abreast  of 
the  company. 

"  How  am  1 .?  "  repeated  Dolokhof,  coldly.  "  As  you 
see." 

1  Ah,  my  cottage,  my  cottage. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  169 

The  military  song  gave  a  special  significance  to  the 
tone  of  easy  good  fellowship  in  which  Zherkof  spoke, 
and  the  pronounced  coolness  of  Dolokhof's  answer. 

"  And  how  do  you  get  along  with  your  chiefs  ?  "  asked 
Zherkof. 

*'A11  right;  good  fellows.  How  did  you  manage  to 
get  on  the  staff  ?  " 

"  I  am  attached —  on  duty." 

Neither  spoke. 

"  Vuipushdla  sokold 
Da  iz  prdvava  rukavd  "  ^ 

rang  out  the  song,  involuntarily  inspiring  a  bold,  blithe 
feeling.  Their  talk  would  probably  have  been  different, 
if  they  had  not  spoken  while  the  singing  was  in  progress. 

**  Is  it  true  that  the  Austrians  are  beaten.?"  asked 
Dolokhof. 

"  The  devil  only  knows  ;  so  they  say." 

"  I  am  glad  of  it,"  exclaimed  Dolokhof,  curtly  and  dis- 
tinctly, as  if  the  song  demanded  it  of  him. 

"  Say,  come  to  us  this  evening.  You  '11  have  a  chance 
at  faro,"  said  Zherkof. 

"  Did  you  bring  much  money  with  you .?" 

"Come." 

"  Can't.  I  've  sworn  off.  I  neither  drink  nor  play  till 
I  'm  promoted." 

"Well,  that  '11  come  the  first  engagement." 

"We  shall  see." 

Again  they  relapsed  into  silence. 

"  Look  in,  anyway ;  if  you  need  anything,  the  staff 
will  help  you." 

Dolokhof  laughed. 

"You  'd  better  not  trouble  yourself.  If  I  need  any- 
thing, I  shall  not  ask  for  it ;  I  '11  take  it." 

"Well,  I  mean...." 

"  Well,  and  so  do  I  mean." 

"Good-by." 

"  Farewell." 

1  She  unleashed  the  falcon,  and  from  the  right  sleeve. 


lyo  WAR    AND    PEACE 


"  /  viiisoko  i  cialeko, 
Na  7'ocidmti  storanu.'''''^ 


Zherkof  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  which  pranced  and 
danced  not  knowing  with  which  foot  to  start,  and  then, 
with  a  spring,  galloped  off,  leaving  the  company  far 
behind,  and  overtook  the  calash,  while  still  the  rhythm 
of  the  song  seemed  to  wing  its  feet. 


CHAPTER   III 

On  his  return  from  the  review,  Kutuzof,  accompanied 
by  the  Austrian  general,  went  into  his  private  room, 
and  calling  his  aide  bade  him  bring  certain  papers  re- 
lating to  the  state  of  the  troops,  and  some  letters 
received  from  the  Archduke  Ferdinand,  the  commander 
of  the  army  of  the  van.  Prince  Andrei  Bolkonsky 
cam.e  into  the  commander-in-chief's  office  with  the 
desired  papers.  Kutuzof  and  the  member  of  the  Hof- 
kriegsrath  were  sitting  at  a  table  on  which  was  spread 
a  map. 

"  Ah,"  said  Kutuzof,  with  a  glance  at  Bolkonsky, 
signifying  by  this  exclamation  that  the  adjutant  was 
to  wait,  while  at  the  same  time  he  went  on  in  French 
with  the  conversation  that  he  had  begun. 

"  I  have  only  one  thing  to  say,  general,"  proceeded 
Kutuzof,  with  a  pleasing  elegance  of  diction  and  accent 
which  constrained  one  to  listen  to  each  deliberately 
spoken  word. 

It  was  evident  that  Kutuzof  took  pleasure  in  hearing 
himself. 

'*  I  have  only  one  thing  to  say,  general ;  if  the  matter 
depended  solely  on  me,  then  the  desire  of  his  majesty 
the  Emperor  Franz  would  long  ago  have  been  fulfilled, 
I  should  long  ago  have  joined  the  archduke.  And  ] 
assure  you,  on  my  honor,  that  for  me  personally,  1 
should  have  been  rejoiced  to  give  over  the  supreme 
command   of   the   armies  to   a  general  so   much  more 

^  "  High  and  far  in  our  fatherland." 


WAR    AND    PEACE  171 

learned  and  more  experienced  than  myself,  —  and  such 
men  abound  in  Austria,  —  and  to  be  relieved  of  the 
heavy  responsibility ;  but  circumstances  are  often  be- 
yond our  control,  general." 

And  Kutuzof  smiled,  with  an  expression  which  seemed 
to  say :  '  You  are  at  perfect  liberty  not  to  put  any  con- 
fidence in  what  I  say,  and  it  is  absolutely  of  no  conse- 
quence to  me  whether  you  believe  me  or  not,  but  you 
have  no  need  to  tell  me  so.  And  that 's  all  there  is 
of  it.' 

The  Austrian  general  looked  dissatisfied,  but  could 
not  do  otherwise  than  reply  in  the  same  tone. 

"  On  the  contrary,"  said  he,  in  a  querulous  and  angry 
tone,  that  gave  the  lie  to  the  flattering  intention  of  his 
words,  "  on  the  contrary,  his  majesty  highly  appreciates 
the  part  that  your  excellency  has  taken  in  the  common 
cause ;  but  we  think  that  the  present  delay  will  rob  the 
brave  Russian  army  and  their  generals  of  those  laurels 
which  they  are  in  the  habit  of  winning  in  war,"  he  re- 
joined, in  a  phrase  evidently  prepared  beforehand. 

Kutuzof  bowed,  but  still  continued  to  smile. 

"  Well,  such  is  my  idea  of  it,  and  relying  upon  the 
last  letter  which  his  highness  the  Archduke  Ferdinand 
has  done  me  the  honor  of  writing  me,  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  Austrian  army,  under  the  command  of  such 
an  experienced  coadjutor  as  General  Mack,  has  already 
won  a  decisive  victory  and  no  longer  needs  our  aid," 
said  Kutuzof. 

The  general  frowned.  There  was  indeed  no  accurate 
information  about  the  condition  of  the  Austrians,  yet 
there  was  a  preponderating  weight  of  circumstantial 
evidence  in  favor  of  the  unfavorable  rumors  that  were 
in  circulation,  and,  therefore,  Kutuzof's  assumption  of 
an  Austrian  victory  seemed  very  much  like  a  jest. 
But  Kutuzof  smiled  blandly,  with  an  expression  which 
seemed  to  affirm  his  right  to  make  this  assumption. 
In  fact,  the  last  letter  that  he  had  received  from  Mack's 
army  informed  him  of  a  probable  victory,  and  of  the 
very  advantageous  strategical  position  of  his  army. 

"  Give    me    that    letter,"    said    Kutuzof,    addressing 


172  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Prince  Andrei.  **  Have  the  goodness  to  listen  to  this," 
and  Kutuzof,  with  an  ironical  smile  hovering  on  his  lips, 
read  in  German  to  the  Austrian  general  the  following 
passage  from  the  Archduke  Ferdinand's  letter :  — 

"  We  have  our  forces  perfectly  concentrated  —  nearly  sev- 
enty thousand  strong  —  so  that  we  can  attack  and  defeat  the 
enemy  should  he  attempt  to  cross  the  Lech.  Since  we  are 
masters  of  Uhu,  we  cannot  lose  the  advantage  of  having  con- 
trol of  both  banks  of  the  Danube  ;  moreover,  should  the  enemy 
not  cross  the  Lech,  we  can  at  any  moment  take  the  other  side 
of  the  Danube,  attack  his  line  of  communication,  and,  by  re- 
crossing  the  Danube  lower  down,  instantly  nullify  his  plans,  if 
he  should  think  of  turning  the  main  body  of  his  forces  against 
our  faithful  allies.  Thus  we  can  confidently  wait  the  moment 
when  the  imperial  Russian  army  is  ready  to  join  us,  and  then 
easily  find  an  opportunity  in  common  to  inflict  upon  the  enemy 
the  fate  that  he  deserves."  ^ 

Kutuzof  drew  a  long  breath,  when  he  had  finished 
this  passage,  and  looked  with  a  sympathetic  and  kindly 
expression  at  the  member  of  the  Hofkriegsrath. 

"  But  you  know,  your  excellency,  that  the  proverb 
advises  to  be  prepared  for  the  worst,"  said  the  Aus- 
trian general,  evidently  anxious  to  have  done  with  jokes 
and  take  up  serious  business.  He  involuntarily  glanced 
at  the  aide. 

''  Excuse  me,  general,"  exclaimed  Kutuzof,  interrupt- 
ing him  and  also  turning  to  Prince  Andrei.  "  See  here, 
my  dear  fellow,  get  from  Kozlovsky  all  the  reports  from 
our  scouts.  Here  are  two  letters  from  Count  Nostitz, 
and  here  's  a  letter  from  his  highness  the  Archduke 
Ferdinand, — another  still,"  said  he,  handing  him  sev- 
eral papers.  *'  Have  an  abstract  of  these  made  out 
neatly  in  French,  as  a  memorandum,  so  that  we  can 
see  at  a  glance  all  the  facts  that  we  have  in  regard  to 
the  doings  of  the  Austrian  army.  Now  then,  when  it 
is  done  you  will  hand  it  to  his  excellency." 

Prince  Andrei  inclined  his  head  as  a  sign  that  he 
comprehended  from  the  very  first  word  not  only  all  that 

1  In  German  in  the  original. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  173 

Kutuzof  had  said,  but  all  that  he  intended  to  say  to 
him.  He  gathered  up  the  papers  and  with  a  general 
salutation  went  into  the  reception-room,  stepping  noise- 
lessly over  the  soft  carpet. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  not  much  time  had 
elapsed  since  Prince  Andrei  had  left  Russia,  he  had 
greatly  changed.  In  the  expression  of  his  face,  in  his 
motions,  in  his  gait,  there  was  almost  nothing  to  be 
recognized  of  his  former  affectation,  lassitude,  and  lazi- 
ness. He  had  the  appearance  of  a  man  who  has  no 
tim>^  .0  think  about  the  impression  that  he  produces 
upon  others,  but  who  is  occupied  with  pleasant  and  in- 
teresting work.  His  face  showed  more  of  contentment 
with  himself  and  his  surroundings ;  his  smile  and  glance 
were  more  cheerful  and  attractive. 

Kutuzof,  whom  he  joined  in  Poland,  had  received  him 
very  warmly  and  promised  not  to  forget  him ;  treated 
him  with  more  distinction  than  his  other  aides,  and  had 
taken  him  to  Vienna  with  him  and  intrusted  him  with 
the  most  important  duties.  From  Vienna  Kutuzof  sent 
a  letter  to  his  old  comrade.  Prince  Andrei's  father :  — 

''Your  son,"  he  wrote,  "bids  fair  to  become  an  officer 
who  will  be  distinguished  for  his  quickness  of  percep- 
tion, his  firmness,  and  his  faithfulness.  I  count  myself 
fortunate  in  having  such  an  assistant." 

Among  the  officers  of  Kutuzof's  staff  and  in  the  army 
generally.  Prince  Andrei  bore  two  diametrically  opposite 
reputations,  just  the  same  as  in  Petersburg  society.  One 
party,  the  minority,  regarded  Prince  Andrei  as  in  some 
way  different  from  themselves  and  all  other  people,  and 
expected  him  to  achieve  the  most  brilliant  success;  they 
listened  to  him,  praised  him,  and  imitated  him,  and  Prince 
Andrei'  was  on  pleasant  and  easy  terms  with  these  men. 
The  other  party,  the  majority,  were  not  fond  of  Prince 
Andrei ;  they  considered  him  haughty,  cold,  and  dis- 
agreeable. But  Prince  Andrei  had  conducted  himself 
toward  these  men  in  such  a  way  as  to  win  their  respect 
and  even  their  fear. 

Coming  into  the  reception-room  from  Kutuzof's  cabi- 
nf^t,  Prince  Andrei  took  his  papers  to  his  colleague,  the 


174  WAR    AND    PEACE 

aide  Kozlovsky,  who  was  on  duty  and  was  sitting  with 
a  book  at  the  window. 

**  Well,  what  is  it,  prince?"  asked  Kozlovsky. 

**You  are  ordered  to  draw  up  a  memorandum,  to 
account  for  our  not  advancing." 

''But  why.?" 

Prince  Andrei  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"Any  news  of  Mack  .-*  "  asked  Kozlovsky. 

"No." 

"If  it  were  true  that  he  is  defeated,  the  news  would 
have  come  by  this  time." 

"  Probably,"  rejoined  Prince  Andrei,  and  started  for 
the  outer  door;  but  at  that  very  instant  the  door  was 
flung  almost  into  his  face,  and  a  tall  Austrian  general, 
in  an  overcoat,  and  with  his  head  swathed  in  a  dark 
handkerchief,  and  with  the  ribbon  of  Maria  Theresa 
around  his  neck,  hurried  into  the  room,  having  evidently 
just  arrived  from  a  journey. 

Prince  Andrei  paused. 

"  General-in-chief  Kutuzof } "  hurriedly  asked  the 
newly  arrived  general,  with  a  strong  German  accent, 
and,  looking  anxiously  on  all  sides,  started  without  delay 
for  the  door  of  the  general's  private  room. 

"  The  general-in-chief  is  engaged,"  said  Kozlovsky, 
hastening  toward  the  unknown  general  and  barring  the 
way  to  the  cabinet.     "  Whom  shall  I  announce  }  " 

The  unknown  general  looked  scornfully  down  on  the 
diminutive  Kozlovsky,  and  seemed  to  be  amazed  that 
he  was  not  recognized. 

, "  The  general-in-chief  is  engaged,"  repeated  Kozlov- 
sky, calmly. 

The  general's  face  contracted,  his  lips  drew  together 
and  trembled. 

He  drew  out  a  note-book,  quickly  wrote  something  in 
pencil,  tore  out  the  leaf,  and  handed  it  to  the  aide ; 
then,  with  quick  steps,  he  walked  over  to  the  window, 
threw  himself  into  a  chair,  and  surveyed  those  in 
the  room,  as  if  to  ask  why  they  stared  at  him  so. 
Then  the  general  lifted  his  head,  stretched  out  his 
neck,  as  if  he  were  about  to  say  something,  and  then, 


WAR    AND    PEACE  175 

affecting  to  hum  to  himself,  produced  a  strange  sound, 
instantly  swallowed.  The  office  door  opened,  and 
Kutuzof  himself  appeared  on  the  threshold.  The 
general  with  the  bandaged  head,  who  had  apparently- 
escaped  from  some  peril,  bowed,  and  hastened,  with 
long  swift  strides  of  his  thin  legs,  across  the  room, 
toward  Kutuzof. 

**  You  see  the  unfortunate  Mack ! "  said  he,  in  a 
broken  voice. 

Kutuzof's  face,  as  he  stood  at  his  office  door,  remained 
perfectly  unchangeable  for  several  moments.  Then  a 
frown  ran  like  a  wave  across  his  brow,  and  passed  off, 
leaving  his  face  as  serene  as  before.  He  respectfully 
bent  his  head,  shut  his  eyes,  silently  allowed  Mack  to 
pass  in  front  of  him  into  the  office,  and  then  closed  the 
door  behind  him. 

The  rumor,  already  spread  abroad,  as  to  the  defeat  of 
the  Austrians  and  the  surrender  of  the  whole  army  at 
Ulm,  was  thus  proved  to  be  correct.  Within  half  an 
hour  aides  were  flying  about  in  all  directions  with  orders 
for  the  Russian  army,  till  now  inactive,  to  prepare  with 
all  haste  to  meet  the  enemy. 

Prince  Andrei  was  one  of  those  uncommon  staff- 
officers  who  devote  their  chief  interest  to  the  general 
operations  of  the  war.  On  seeing  Mack,  and  learning 
the  particulars  of  his  defeat,  he  realized  that  half  of  the 
campaign  was  lost,  realized  the  difficult  situation  of  the 
Russian  army,  and  vividly  pictured  the  fate  that  was 
awaiting  the  army,  and  the  part  which  he  was  about  to 
play  in  it.  In  spite  of  himself  he  experienced  a  strong 
feeling  of  delight  at  the  thought  of  the  shame  that 
Austria  had  brought  upon  herself,  and  that  perhaps 
within  a  week  he  would  have  a  chance  to  witness  and 
take  part  in  an  encounter  between  the  Russians  and  the 
French,  the  first  since  the  time  of  Suvorof. 

But  he  feared  lest  Bonaparte's  genius  should  show 
itself  superior  to  all  the  valor  of  the  Russian  troops, 
and  at  the  same  time  he  could  not  bear  the  thought  of 
his  hero  suffering  disgrace. 

Agitated  and  stirred  by  these  thoughts,  Prince  An- 


176  WAR   AND    PEACE 

dreV  started  for  his  room  to  write  his  father,  to  whom 
he  sent  a  daily  letter.  In  the  corridor  he  fell  in  with 
his  roommate,  Nesvitsky,  and  the  buffoon  Zherkof ;  as 
usual,  they  were  laughing  and  joking. 

"Why  are  you  so  down  in  the  mouth?"  asked  Nes- 
vitsky, noticing  Prince  Andrei's  pale  face  and  flashing 
eyes. 

"  There  's  nothing  to  be  gay  about,"  replied  Bolkonsky. 

Just  as  Prince  Andrei  joined  Nesvitsky  and  Zherkof, 
there  came  toward  them  from  the  other  end  of  the  cor- 
ridor the  Austrian  general,  Strauch,  who  was  attached 
to  Kutuzof's  staff  to  look  after  the  commissariat  of  the 
Russian  army.  He  was  with  the  member  of  the  Hof- 
kriegsrath,  who  had  arrived  the  evening  before. 

There  was  plenty  of  room  in  the  wide  corridor  for 
the  generals  to  pass  without  incommoding  the  three 
officers ;  but  Zherkof,  giving  Nesvitsky  a  push,  ex- 
claimed in  a  hurried  voice  :  — 

"They  are  coming !....  they  are  coming!....  Stand 
aside,  please  !     Please  make  room  !  " 

The  generals  came  along,  evidently  desiring  to  avoid 
embarrassing  etiquette.  A  stupid  smile  of  pleasure 
spread  over  the  buffoon  Zherkof 's  face ;  it  was  plain 
that  he  could  not  repress  it. 

"Your  excellency,"  said  he,  in  German,  as  he  stepped 
forward  and  addressed  the  Austrian  general,  "  I  have 
the  honor  of  congratulating  you." 

He  made  a  low  bow,  and,  awkwardly,  like  a  child 
learning  to  dance,  began  to  scrape  first  with  one  foot, 
then  with  the  other. 

The  member  of  the  Hofkriegsrath  gave  him  a  stern 
look  ;  but,  concluding  by  his  idiotic  smile  that  he  was  in 
earnest,  he  was  constrained  to  listen  for  a  moment.  He 
frowned,  to  show  that  he  was  listening. 

"  I  have  the  honor  of  congratulating  you !  General 
Mack  has  come ;  he  's  perfectly  well,  save  for  a  slight 
wound  here,"  said  he,  with  a  radiant  smile,  pointing  to 
his  head. 

The  general  frowned,  and  turned  away,  —  and  went 
on  his  way. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  177 

**Gott!  what  simplicity!"  said  he,  angrily,  after  he 
had  gone  a  few  steps. 

Nesvitsky,  with  a  laugh,  threw  his  arms  around  Prince 
Andrei;  but  the  latter,  paler  than  ever,  and  with  a 
wrathful  look  on  his  face,  pushed  him  aside,  and  turned 
to  Zherkof.  The  nervous  excitement  induced  by  the 
sight  of  Mack,  by  the  news  of  his  defeat,  and  the 
thoughts  of  what  was  awaiting  the  Russian  army,  found 
its  outlet  in  wrath  at  this  ill-timed  jest  of  Zherkof 's. 

*'  If  you,  my  dear  sir,"  he  exclaimed  scornfully,  while 
his  lower  jaw  twitched  a  little,  "choose  to  be  a  buffoon, 
why,  I  cannot  hinder  you  ;  but  I  assure  you  that  if  you 
dare  a  second  time  to  act  like  a  fool  in  my  presence,  I 
will  teach  you  how  to  behave." 

Nesvitsky  and  Zherkof  were  so  amazed  at  this  out- 
burst that  all  they  could  do  was  to  look  in  silence  at 
Bolkonsky,  with  wide-open  eyes. 

"Why,  I  only  congratulated  them!"  said  Zherkof. 

"  I  am  not  jesting  with  you ;  be  good  enough  to  hold 
your  tongue !  "  cried  Bolkonsky,  and  taking  Nesvitsky 
by  the  arm  he  drew  him  away  from  Zherkof,  who  found 
nothing  to  say. 

"Well,  now,  what's  the  matter,  brother.? "  asked  Nes- 
vitsky, in  a  soothing  tone. 

"  What 's  the  matter }  "  repeated  Prince  Andrei',  paus- 
ing in  his  excitement.  "  Why,  you  know  well  enough, 
either  we  are  officers  in  the  service  of  our  Tsar  and  our 
country,  -rejoicing  at  our  common  success  and  grieving 
over  our  common  failure,  or  we  are  '  lackeys,'  who  have 
no  interest  in  our  master's  concerns.  Forty  thousand 
men  massacred  and  the  army  of  our  allies  destroyed, 
and  still  you  find  it  something  to  laugh  at !  "  said  he, 
as  if  these  last  sentences,  which  were  spoken  in  French, 
added  to  the  effect  of  what  he  was  saying.  "  It  is  well 
enough  for  a  trifler  like  that  fellow  whom  you  have  made 
your  friend,  but  not  for  you,  not  for  you.  Only  silly 
boys  could  find  amusement  in  such  things,"  said  Prince 
Andrei,  suddenly  changing  to  Russian  again,  but  pro- 
nouncing the  Russian  word  for  silly  boys  with  a  French 
accent.  Noticing  that  Zherkof  was  still  within  hearing, 
VOL.  I. —  12 


178  WAR   AND    PEACE 

he  waited  to  see  if  the  cornet  had  any  answer  to  make. 
But  Zherkof  had  turned  away  and  was  going  down  the 
corridor. 

CHAPTER    IV 

The  Pavlograd  regiment  of  hussars  was  encamped 
two  miles  from  Braunau.  The  squadron  in  which 
Nikolai  Rostof  served  as  yunker  was  quartered  in  the 
German  village  of  Salzeneck.  The  squadron  com- 
mander, Captain  Denisof,  who  was  known  to  the  entire 
cavalry  division  as  Vaska  Denisof,  had  been  assigned 
to  the  best  house  in  the  village.  Yunker  Rostof  had 
shared  the  captain's  quarters  ever  since  he  joined  the 
regiment  in  Poland. 

On  the  very  same  October  day,  when  at  headquarters 
all  had  been  thrown  into  excitement  by  the  news  of 
Mack's  defeat,  the  camp  life  of  the  squadron  was  going 
on  in  its  usual  tranquil  course.  Denisof,  who  had  been 
playing  a  losing  game  of  cards  all  night  long,  had  not 
yet  returned  to  his  rooms,  -when  Rostof  early  in  the 
morning  rode  up  on  horseback  from  his  foraging  tour. 
He  was  in  his  yunker  uniform,  and,  as  he  galloped  up 
to  the  doorstep  and  threw  over  his  leg  with  the  agile 
dexterity  of  youth,  he  paused  a  moment  in  the  stirrup, 
as  if  sorry  to  dismount,  but  at  last  sprang  lightly  from 
the  horse  and  called  the  orderly. 

**  Hey  !  Bondarenko,  my  dear  fellow,"  he  shouted  to 
the  hussar  who  hurried  forward  to  attend  to  the  horse. 
"  Lead  him  about  a  little,  my  friend,"  said  he,  with  that 
fraternal  geniality  with  which  handsome  young  men  are 
apt  to  treat  everybody  when  they  are  happy. 

*'  I  will,  your  illustriousness,"  replied  the  little  Rus- 
sian,^  gayly  shaking  his  head. 

**  See  that  you  walk  him  about  well." 

Another  hussar  also  hastened  up  to  attend  to  the 
horse,  but  Bondarenko  had  already  taken  the  bridle. 
It  was  evident  that  the  yunker  gave  handsome  fees  and 
that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  serve  him.     Rostof  smoothed 

1  Khokhdly  literally  Topknot,  a  nickname  of  the  Malo- Russians. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  179 

the  horse's  neck,  then  his  flank,  and  turned  and  looked 
back  from  the  step. 

"  Excellent  !  He  '11  be  a  horse  worth  having !  "  said 
he  to  himself,  and  then  smiling  and  picking  up  his  saber 
he  mounted  the  steps  with  clinking  spurs. 

The  German  who  owned  the  house  glanced  up  as  he 
worked  in  his  shirt-sleeves  and  nightcap,  pitching  over 
manure  in  the  cow-house.  The  German's  face  always 
lighted  at  the  sight  of  Rostof.  He  gayly  smiled  and 
winked  :  — 

**  Good-morning,  good-morning !  "  he  reiterated,  evi- 
dently taking  great  satisfaction  in  giving  the  young 
man  his  morning  greeting. 

"  Busy  already.-^  "  asked  Rostof,  with  the  same  good- 
natured,  friendly  smile,  which  so  well  became  his  ani- 
mated face.  '*  Hurrah  for  the  Austrians  !  hurrah  for 
the  Russians  !  hurrah  for  the  Kaiser  Alexander  I  "  he 
shouted,  repeating  the  words  which  his  German  host  was 
fond  of  saying.  The  German  laughed,  came  out  from 
the  door  of  the  cow-house,  took  off  his  nightcap,  and 
waving  it  over  his  head,  cried,  **  Hurrah  for  the  whole 
world  !  " 

Rostof,  following  the  German's  example,  waved  his 
forage  cap  around  his  head,  and  with  a  merry  laugh 
shouted, *'6^;/<;/  vivat  die  ganze  Welt  !  —  Long  live  the 
whole  world  !  " 

Although  there  was  no  special  reason  for  rejoicing, 
either  on  the  part  of  the  German  who  was  engaged  in 
pitching  manure,  or  of  Rostof,  who  had  been  on  a  long 
ride  with  his  men  after  hay,  nevertheless  both  of  these 
men  looked  at  each  other  with  joyous  enthusiasm  and 
brotherly  love,  nodded  their  heads  to  show  that  they 
understood  each  other,  and  then  separated  with  a  smile, 
the  German  to  his  cow-house,  and  Rostof  to  the  cottage 
which  he  and  Denisof  shared  together. 

"  What  is  your  master  doing }  "  lie  asked  of  La- 
vrushka,  Denisof 's  rascally  valet,  who  was  known  to  the 
whole  regiment. 

"  He  has  n't  been  in  since  evening.  Probably  been 
losing  at  cards,''  replied  Lavrushka.     "  I  have  learned 


i8o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

that,  if  he  has  good  luck,  he  comes  in  early  and  in  high 
spirits,  but  if  he  does  not  get  in  before  morning,  it 
means  he  's  been  losing,  and  he  '11  come  in  mad  enough. 
Will  you  have  coffee  ?  " 

"  Yes,  give  me  some." 

In  less  than  ten  minutes,  Lavrushka  brought  the 
coffee.     "  He  's  coming,"  said  he,  **  now  we  '11  get  it !  " 

Rostof  glanced  out  of  the  window  and  saw  Denisof 
meandering  home.  He  was  a  little  man,  with  a  red 
face,  brilliant  black  eyes,  and  black  mustache,  and  hair 
all  in  disorder.  He  wore  a  hussar's  pelisse  unbuttoned, 
wide,  sagging  pantaloons,  and  a  hussar's  cap,  crumpled 
on  the  back  of  his  head.  He  came  up  the  steps  in  a 
gloomy  mood,  with  hanging  head. 

"  Lav'ushka,"  he  cried  in  a  loud,  surly  voice,  "  here, 
you  blockhead  —  take  this  off  !  " 

"  Don't  you  see  I  am  taking  it  off .''  "  replied  La- 
vrushka's  voice. 

*'  Ah,  you  are  up  alweady  ? "  asked  Denisof,  as  he 
came  into  the  cottage. 

"  Long  ago  !  "  repHed  Rostof.  "  I  have  been  after 
hay  and  I  saw  Fraulein  Mathilde  !  " 

"  So  ho !  and  there  I  have  been,  bwother,  losing 
howibly  all  night,  like  a  son  of  a  dog  !  "  cried  Denisof, 
swallowing  his  R's.  "Such  howid  bad  luck!  Peffectly 
howid  !  The  moment  you  left,  luck  changed.  Hey 
there,  tea ! " 

Denisof  snarled  with  a  sort  of  smile,  which  showed 
his  short,  sound  teeth,  and  began  to  run  the  short  fin- 
gers of  both  hands  through  his  thick,  black  hair,  that 
stood  up  like  a  forest. 

"  The  devil  himself  dwove  me  to  that  Wat "  (the 
officer's  nickname  was  the  Rat),  said  he,  rubbing  his 
forehead  and  face  with  both  hands.  "  Just  imagine  ! 
Did  n't  have  a  single  cahd,  not  one,  not  a  single  one !  " 

Denisof  took  the  pipe  which  had  been  handed  to  him 
already  lighted,  grasped  it  in  his  fist,  and  knocked  it  on 
the  floor,  scattering  the  fire,  shouting  all  the  time  :  — 

''  Simple  stakes,  lose  the  doubles,  simple  stakes,  lose 
the  doubles."     He  scattered  the  fire,  broke  his  pipe  in 


WAR   AND    PEACE  i8i 

two,  and  flung  it  away.  Then,  after  a  silence,  he  sud- 
denly looked  up  at  Rostof  with  his  bright,  black  eyes 
full  of  merriment :  — 

"  If  there  were  only  some  women  here.  But  here 
there  's  nothing  to  do  but  dwink.  If  we  could  only  have 
a  wound  of  fighting! ....  He!  who's  there  ?"  he  cried, 
going  to  the  door,  on  hearing  the  sound  of  heavy  boots 
and  the  jingling  of  spurs  in  the  next  room. 

"The  quartermaster,"  announced  Lavrushka.  De- 
nisof  frowned  still  more  portentously. 

''  Dwat  it,"  he  exclaimed,  flinging  his  friend  a  purse 
containing  a  few  gold  pieces.  "Wostof,  count  it, 
chicken  !  see  how  much  is  left,  then  put  it  under  my 
pillow,"  said  he,  and  went  out  to  see  the  quarter- 
master. 

Rostof  took  the  money,  and  mechanically  making  lit- 
tle heaps  of  the  new  and  old  coins,  according  to  their 
denominations,  began  to  count  them. 

"  Ah  !  Telyanin !  How  d'e  ?  Got  done  up  last  night !  " 
Denisof  was  heard  saying  in  the  next  room. 

''Where?  At  Buikof's  — at  the  Rat's— I  heard 
about  it,"  said  a  second,  thin  voice,  and  immediately 
after,  Lieutenant  Telyanin,  a  young  officer  of  the  same 
squadron,  came  into  the  room, 

Rostof  thrust  the  purse  under  the  pillow  and  pressed 
the  little  moist  hand  that  was  held  out  to  him.  Tel- 
yanin had  been  removed  from  the  Guards,  shortly  before 
the  campaign,  for  some  reason  or  other.  He  now  con- 
ducted himself  very  decently  in  the  regiment,  but  he 
was  not  liked,  and  Rostof,  especially,  could  not  con- 
quer, or  even  conceal,  his  unreasonable  antipathy  to- this 
officer. 

"  Well,  young  cavalier,  how  does  my  Grachik  suit 
you  .^ "  (Grachik,  or  Young  Rook,  was  a  saddle-horse 
which  Telyanin  had  sold  Rostof).  The  lieutenant  never 
looked  the  man  with  whom  he  was  talking  straight  in 
the  eye  ;  his  eyes  were  constantly  wandering  from  one  ob- 
ject to  another.     **  I  saw  you  riding  him  this  morning." 

*' First-rate,  he's  a  good  horse,"  said  Rostof,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  animal,  for  which  he  had  given  seven 


i82  WAR    AND    PEACE 

hundred  rubles,  was  worth  only  half  the  price  he  had 
paid.     "  He  's  begun  to  go  lame  of  the  left  fore  leg." 

"  Hoof  cracked  !  That 's  nothing.  I  will  teach  you  or 
show  you  what  kind  of  a  rivet  to  put  on." 

"Yes,  show  me,  please,"  said  Rostof. 

"  I  will  show  you,  certainly  I  will ;  it 's  no  secret. 
And  you  will  thank  me  for  the  horse." 

''I'll  have  him  brought  right  round,"  said  Rostof, 
anxious  to  get  rid  of  Telyanin,  and  went  out  to  give  his 
orders. 

In  the  entry,  Denisof,  with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth,  was 
sitting  cross-legged  on  the  threshold  in  front  of  the 
quartermaster,  who  was  making  his  report.  When  he 
saw  Rostof,  Denisof  made  up  a  face  and,  pointing  with 
his  thumb  over  his  shoulder  into  the  room  where  Tel- 
yanin was,  scowled  still  more  darkly,  and  shuddered  with 
aversion. 

*'  Okh  !  I  don't  like  that  young  fellow,"  said  he,  un- 
deterred by  the  quartermaster's  presence. 

Rostof  shrugged  his  shoulders,  as  much  as  to  say, 
*  Nor  I,  either,  but  what  is  to  be  done  about  it,'  and, 
having  given  his  orders,  returned  to  Telyanin, 

The  latter  was  still  sitting  in  the  same  indolent  posi- 
tion in  which  Rostof  had  left  him,  rubbing  his  small, 
white  hands. 

"What  repugnant  people  one  has  to  meet,"  said 
Rostof  to  himself,  as  he  went  into  the  room. 

"  Well,  did  you  order  the  horse  brought  round  ?  "  asked 
Telyanin,  getting  up  and  carelessly  looking  around. 

"  I  did." 

"  Come  on,  then.  I  just  went  out  to  ask  Denisof 
about  to-day's  orders  ;  that  was  all.  Have  they  come 
yet,  Denisof  ?" 

"  Not  yet.     Where  are  you  going  ?  " 
■  "  Oh,  I  am  just  going  to  show  this  young  man  how  to 
have  his  horse  shod,"  replied  Telyanin. 

They  went  out  down  the  front  steps  to  the  stable. 
The  lieutenant  showed  Rostof  how  to  have  a  rivet  made, 
and  then  went  home. 

When  Rostof  returned,  he  found  Denisof  sitting  at 


WAR   AND    PEACE  183 

the  table  with  a  bottle  of  vodka  and  a  sausage  before 
him,  and  writing  with  a  sputtering  pen.  He  looked 
gloomily  into  Rostof's  face. 

"  I  'm  witing  to  her,"  said  he. 

He  leaned  his  elbow  on  the  table,  with  his  pen  in  his 
hand,  and  told  his  friend  what  his  letter  was  to  be, 
evidently  taking  real  delight  in  the  chance  of  saying 
faster  than  he  could  write  all  that  he  had  in  his  mind 
to  put  on  the  paper. 

'*  Do  you  see,  my  fwiend,"  said  he,  "we  are  asleep 
when  we  are  not  in  love.  We  are  childwen  of  the 
dust ;  but  when  you  are  in  love,  then  you  are  like  God, 
you  are  as  pure  as  on  the  first  day  of  kweation.  —  Who 
is  there  now  ?  Send  him  to  the  devil.  I  have  no 
time !  "  he  cried  to  Lavrushka,  who  came  up  to  him, 
not  in  the  least  abashed. 

"What  can  I  do.'*  It's  your  own  order.  It's  the 
quartermaster  come  back  for  the  money." 

Denisof  scowled,  opened  his  mouth  to  shout  some- 
thing, but  made  no  sound. 

"  Nasty  job,"  he  muttered  to  himself.  "  How  much 
money  was  there  left  in  that  purse  ? "  he  asked  of 
Rosto'f. 

"  Seven  new  pieces  and  three  old  ones." 

"  Akh,  dwat  it !  —  Well,  what  are  you  standing  there 
for  like  a  booby ;  fetch  in  the  quartermaster,"  cried 
Denisof  to  Lavrushka. 

"Please,  Denisof,  take  some  of  my  money;  you  see 
I  have  plenty,"  said  Rostof,  reddening. 

"  I  don't  like  to  bowow  of  my  fwiends,  I  don't  like 
it,"  declared  Denisof. 

"  But  if  you  don't  let  me  lend  you  money,  comrade 
fashion,  I  shall  be  offended  !  "  insisted  Rostof.  "  Truly, 
I  have  plenty." 

"  No,  indeed,  I  shan't,"  and  Denisof  went  to  the  bed 
to  get  the  purse  from  under  the  pillow. 

"  Where  did  you  put  it,  Wostof  .?  " 

"  Under  the  bottom  pillow." 

"It  isn't  here."  Denisof  flung  both  pillows  on  the 
floor.     There  was  no  purse  there.     "  That 's  stwange." 


1 84  WAR    AND    PEACE 

**  Hold  on,  did  n't  you  throw  it  out  ?  "  asked  Rostof, 
picking  up  the  pillows  and  shaking  them,  and  then 
hauling  off  the  bedclothes  and  shaking  them.  But  there 
was  no  purse. 

"  I  could  not  have  forgotten  it,  could  I  .?  No,  I  re- 
member very  well  thinking  how  you  kept  it  like  a  treas- 
ure trove,  under  your  pillow.  —  Where  is  it  .^  "  he 
demanded,  turning  to  Lavrushka. 

*'  I  have  n't  been  into  the  room.  It  must  be  where 
you  put  it." 

**  But  it  is  n't." 

"  That  is  always  the  way  with  you.  You  throw  it 
down,  and  then  forget  all  about  it.  Look  in  your 
pockets." 

**  No,  if  I  had  not  thought  about  the  treasure  trove  " 
....  said  Rostof,  "and  I  remember  putting  it  there." 

Lavrushka  tore  the  whole  bed  apart,  looked  under  it, 
under  the  table,  searched  everywhere  in  the  room,  and 
then  stood  still  in  the  middle  of  the  room.  Denisof 
silently  followed  all  his  motions,  and  when  Lavrushka 
in  amazement  spread  open  his  hands,  he  glanced  at 
Rostof. 

"  Wostof ,  stop  your  school-boy  twicks " 

Rostof,  conscious  of  Denisof's  gaze  fixed  upon  him, 
raised  his  eyes  and  instantly  dropped  them  again.  All 
the  blood,  till  then  contained  somewhere  below  his 
throat,  rushed  in  an  overmastering  flood  into  his  face 
and  eyes.     He  could  not  get  a  breath. 

"There  has  been  no  one  in  the  room  except  the  lieu- 
tenant and  yourselves.  It  's  nowhere  to  be  found,"  said 
Lavrushka. 

"  Now,  you  devil's  puppet,  fly  awound,  hunt  for  it," 
suddenly  cried  Denisof,  growing  livid,  and  starting  to- 
ward the  valet  with  a  threatening  gesture.  "  Find  me 
that  purse  or  I  '11  soak  you !     I  '11  soak  you  all !  " 

Rostof,  avoiding  Denisof's  glance,  began  to  button  up 
his  jacket,  adjusted  his  saber,  and  put  on  his  cap. 

"  I  tell  you,  give  me  that  purse,"  cried  Denisof,  shak- 
ing his  man  by  the  shoulders  and  pushing  him  against 
the  wall. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  185 

"  Denisof,  let  him  go,  I  know  who  took  it,"  said 
Rostof,  going  toward  the  door  and  not  Hfting  his 
eyes. 

Denisof  paused,  considered  a  moment,  and  evidently 
perceiving  whom  Rostof  meant,  he  seized  him  by  the 
arm.  **  Wubbish  !  "  he  cried,  the  veins  on  his  face  and 
neck  standing  out  like  cords.  "  I  tell  you,  you  are  be- 
side yourself  and  I  won't  have  it.  The  purse  is  here. 
I  '11  take  the  hide  off  this  waskal  and  I  '11  get  it." 

**  I  know  who  took  it,"  repeated  Rostof,  in  a  trem- 
bling voice,  and  went  to  the  door. 

"  But  I  tell  you,  don't  you  dare  to  do  it !  "  cried  Deni- 
sof, throwing  himself  on  the  yunker,  to  hold  him  back. 
But  Rostof  freed  his  arm,  and,  with  as  much  anger  as  if 
Denisof  were  his  worst  enemy,  gave  him  a  direct  and 
heavy  blow  right  between  the  eyes. 

"Do  you  realize  what  you  are  saying.''"  he  cried  in  a 
trembling  voice.  *'  He  is  the  only  person  besides  myself 
who  has  been  in  the  room.  Of  course  if  it  was  not  he, 
then...." 

He  could  not  finish,  and  rushed  from  the  room. 

"  Akh !  the  devil  take  you  and  all  the  west,"  were 
the  last  words  that  Rostof  caught. 

He  went  straight  to  Telyanin's  rooms. 

"  My  master  's  not  at  home ;  he  went  to  headquar- 
ters," said  Telyanin's  man.  "  Why,  has  anything  hap- 
pened } "  he  added,  surprised  at  the  yunker's  distorteii 
face. 

*•  No,  nothing  !  " 

"You  just  missed  him,"  said  the  man. 

Headquarters  were  three  versts  ^  from  Salzeneck. 
Rostof,  without  returning  home,  took  a  horse  and  gal- 
loped off  to  headquarters.  In  the  village  occupied  by 
the  staff  was  a  tavern  where  the  officers  resorted.  Ros- 
tof went  to  this  tavern ;  at  the  doorsteps  he  saw  Tel- 
yanin's horse. 

The  lieutenant  himself  was  sitting  in  the  second  room 
of  the  tavern  with  a  plate  of  sausages  and  a  bottle  of 
wine. 

1  A  verst  is  3500  feet,  1067  kilometers. 


1 86  WAR   AND    PEACE 

**  Ah !  so  you  have  come  too,  young  man,"  said  he> 
smiling  and  lifting  his  brows. 

"  Yes,"  said  Rostof,  though  it  required  the  greatest 
effort  to  speak  this  monosyllable ;  and  he  sat  down  at 
the  next  table. 

Neither  said  more ;  two  Germans  and  a  Russian  offi- 
cer were  the  other  occupants  of  the  room.  All  v/ere 
silent,  and  the  only  sounds  were  the  rattle  of  knives  and 
forks  and  the  lieutenant's  munching. 

When  Telyanin  had  finished  his  breakfast,  he  pulled 
out  of  his  pocket  a  double  purse,  and,  with  his  delicate 
white  fingers  which  turned  up  at  the  ends,  slipped  up 
the  ring,  took  out  a  gold  piece,  and,  lifting  his  brows, 
gave  it  to  the  waiter. 

"  Please  make  haste,"  said  he. 

The  gold  piece  was  new.  Rostof  got  up  and  went  to 
Telyanin. 

"  Allow  me  to  look  at  your  purse,"  said  he,  in  a  quiet, 
almost  inaudible  voice. 

With  wandering  eyes  and  still  lifted  brows,  Telyanin 
handed  him  the  purse. 

"  Yes,  it 's  a  handsome  little  purse,  is  n't  it  ?  Yes  ....  " 
said  he,  and  suddenly  turned  pale.  ''  Look  at  it, 
youngster,"  he  added. 

Rostof  took  the  purse  into  his  hand  and  looked  at  it 
and  at  the  money  that  was  in  it  and  at  Telyanin.  The 
lieutenant  glanced  around  in  his  usual  way,  and  appar- 
ently became  suddenly  very  merry. 

"  If  we  ever  get  to  Vienna  I  shall  leave  all  this  there, 
but  there  's  nothing  to  get  with  it  in  these  filthy  little 
towns,"  said  he.  ''Well,  give  it  back  to  me,  youngster, 
I  must  be  going." 

Rostof  said  nothing. 

"  And  you  ?  Are  n't  you  going  to  have  some  break- 
fast .'^  Pretty  good  fare,"  continued  Telyanin.  "Give  it 
to  me." 

He  stretched  out  his  hand  and  took  hold  of  the  purse. 
Rostof  let  it  go.  Telyanin  took  the  purse  and  began  to 
let  it  slip  into  the  pocket  of  his  riding-trousers  and  his 
brows  went  up  higher  than  usual,  and  his  mouth  slightly 


WAR   AND    PEACE  187 

parted  as  much  as  to  say  :  *  Yes,  yes,  I  will  put  my  purse 
in  my  pocket,  and  it  is  a  very  simple  matter,  and  it  is 
no  one's  business  at  all.' 

''Well,  what  is  it,  youngster,"  said  he,  sighing  and' 
glancing  into  Rostof's  eyes  from  under  his  raised  brows. 
Something  like  a  swift  electric  flash  darted  from  Tel- 
yanin's  eyes  into  Rostof's  and  was  darted  back  again  and 
again  and  again  all  in  a  single  instant. 

"Come  here  with  me,"  said  Rostof,  taking  Telyanin 
by  the  arm.  He  drew  him  almost  to  the  window.  **  This 
money  is  Denisof 's !  You  took  it,"  he  whispered  in  his 
ear. 

''What.?....  What.?....  How  do  you  dare.?  What.?".... 
exclaimed  Telyanin.  But  his  words  sounded  like  a  mourn- 
ful cry  of  despair  and  a  prayer  for  forgiveness.  As 
soon  as  Rostof  heard  this  note  in  his  voice  it  seemed  as 
if  a  great  stone  of  doubt  had  fallen  from  his  heart.  He 
was  rejoiced,  and  at  the  same  time  felt  sincere  pity  for 
the  unhappy  man  standing  before  him ;  but  he  was 
obliged  to  carry  the  matter  to  the  end.  "There  are 
men  here  ;  God  knows  what  they  will  think,"  stammered 
Telyanin,  seizing  his  cap  and  starting  for  a  small  unoc- 
cupied room.     "  We  must  have  an  explanation " 

"  I  know  this  and  can  prove  it,"  said  Rostof. 

"I...." 

All  the  muscles  of  Telyanin's  scared  pale  face  began 
to  tremble,  his  eyes  kept  wandering,  though  they  were 
fixed  on  the  floor,  and  never  once  raised  to  Rostof's,  and 
something  like  a  sob  escaped  from  him. 

"  Count !....  don't  ruin  a  young  man.  Here's  that 
wretched  money,  take  it."  He  threw  it  on  the  table. 
"  I  have  a  father  who  's  an  old  man  ;  I  have  a  mother!  " 

Rostof  took  the  money,  avoiding  Telyanin's  gaze,  and, 
not  saying  a  word,  started  to  leave  the  room.  But  at 
the  door  he  paused  and  turned  back.  "My  Godi"  said  he, 
with  tears  in  his  eyes  ;    '  how  could  you  have  done  it .?  " 

"  Count !  "  said  Telyanin,  coming  toward  the  yunker. 

"  Don't  touch  me,"  cried  Rostof,  drawing  himself  up. 
"If  you  need  this  money,  take  it."  He  tossed  him  the 
purse,  and  hurried  out  of  the  tavern. 


1 88  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   V 


On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  a  very  lively  discus- 
sion took  place  in  Denisof's  rooms  among  some  of  the 
officers  of  the  squadron. 

"  But  I  tell  you,  Rostof,  that  it 's  your  business  to 
apologize  to  the  regimental  commander,"  said  the  second 
cavalry-captain,  a  tall  man,  with  grayish  hair,  enormous 
mustache,  and  big  features  and  a  wrinkled  skin. 

This  Captain  Kirsten  had  twice  been  reduced  to  the 
ranks  for  affairs  of  honor,  and  twice  promoted  again. 

''  I  will  not  allow  any  one  to  call  me  a  liar,"  cried 
Rostof,  who  flushed  crimson  and  was  in  a  great  state  of 
excitement.  "  He  told  me  that  I  lied,  and  I  told  him 
that  he  lied.  And  there  the  matter  rests.  He  may  keep 
me  on  duty  every  day  ;  he  may  put  me  under  arrest ;  but 
neither  he  nor  any  one  else  can  force  me  to  apologize. 
If  he,  as  regimental  commander,  considers  it  improper 
to  give  me  satisfaction,  then ....  " 

**  Yes,  yes,  calm  yourself,  batyushka,  listen  to  me," 
interrupted  Captain  Kirsten,  in  his  deep  bass  voice, 
calmly  twirling  his  mustaches.  "  You  told  the  regi- 
mental commander,  in  the  presence  of  other  officers^  that 
an  officer  had  stolen....  " 

*'  It  was  n't  my  fault  that  the  conversation  took  place 
before  other  officers.  Maybe  it  was  not  best  to  have 
spoken  before  them,  but  I  am  not  a  diplomat.  That 's 
why  I  joined  the  hussars;  I  thought  that  here,  at  least, 
such  fine  distinctions  were  not  necessary,  and  he  told  me 
that  I  lied So  let  him  give  me  satisfaction " 

''  That 's  all  very  good  ;  no  one  thinks  that  you  are  a 
coward,  but  that  is  n't  the  point.  Ask  Denisof  —  put  it 
to  any  one — if  a  yunker  can  demand  satisfaction  of 
his  regimental  commander." 

Denisof,  chewing  his  mustache,  was  listening  to  the 
discussion  with  a  gloomy  expression  of  countenance, 
evidently  not  wishing  to  take  any  part  in  it.  In  reply 
to  the  captain's  question,  he  shook  his  head. 

"  In  the  presence  of  other  officers,  you  spoke  to  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  189 

regimental  commander  about  this  rascality,"  continued 
the  second  captain.  "  Bogdanuitch  "  1  (so  the  regimental 
commander  was  called),  **  Bogdanuitch  shut  you  up." 

*'  He  did  not  shut  me  up ;  he  told  me  that  I  was  tell- 
ing a  falsehood." 

''  Well,  have  it  so,  but  you  said  foolish  things  to  hini 
and  you  ought  to  apologize." 

"  Not  for  the  world  !  "  cried  Rostof. 

''  I  did  not  think  that  of  you,"  said  the  captain,  seri- 
ously and  sternly.  "You  are  unwilling  to  apologize, 
and  yet,  batyushka,  you  are  in  fault,  not  only  toward 
him,  but  toward  the  whole  regiment,  toward  all  of  us. 
This  is  the  way  of  it:  if  you  had  only  thought,  if  you 
had  only  taken  advice  as  to  how  to  move  in  this  matter, 
but  no  ;  you  out  with  it,  —  right  before  other  officers 
too.  Well,  then,  what  can  the  regimental  commander 
do.?  Must  he  bring  the  officer  before  a  court-martial 
and  disgrace  the  whole  regiment.?  Insult  the  whole 
regiment  on  account  of  a  single  rogue.?  Is  that  your 
idea  of  it  ?  Well,  it  is  n't  ours  !  And  Bogdanuitch  was 
a  brave  fellow ;  he  told  you  that  you  were  not  telling 
the  truth.  Disagreeable,  but  what  else  could  he  do .? 
You  found  your  match.  And  now,  when  we  want  to 
hush  it  up,  you  —  out  of  sheer  obstinacy  and  pride  — 
are  n't  willing  to  apologize,  but  want  to  have  everybody 
know  about  it.  You  are  offended  because  you  are  put 
on  extra  duty,  because  you  are  required  to  apologize  to 
an  old  and  honored  officer !  Even  if  it  were  not  Bogda- 
nuitch, our  honorable  and  brave  old  colonel,  even  then 
you  would  be  offended  and  would  be  willing  to  insult 
the  whole  regiment,  would  you  .?  "  The  captain's  voice 
began  to  tremble.  *'Yes,  batyushka,  you,  who  will  per- 
haps not  be  in  the  regiment  a  year  from  now,  to-day 
here,  to-morrow  transferred  somewhere  as  aide,  you 
don't  care  a  fig  if  it  is  said :  thieves  among  the  Pavlo- 
grad  officers.  But  it  is  n't  all  the  same  to  us.  What  do 
you  say,  Denisof  .?   It  is  n't  a  matter  of  indifference,  is  it .? " 

1  Karl  Bogdanovitch  Schubert,  sportively  called,  in  imitation  of  peasant 
usage,  by  the  diminished  form  of  the  patronymic,  Bogdanuitch,  son  of 
Bogdan  (Deodat  or  Theodore). 


I90  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Deni'sof  had  kept  silent  all  the  time,  and  did  not  move, 
though  he  occasionally  glanced  at  Rostof  from  his  brill- 
iant black  eyes. 

"  Your  pride  is  so  dear  to  you  that  you  are  n't  willing 
to  apologize,"  continued  the  captain.  "  We  old  men 
who  have  grown  up  and  are  going  to  die,  if  God  grant, 
in  the  regiment,  guard  its  honor  dearly,  and  Bogdanuitch 
knows  it.  Oh!  how  we  love  it,  batyushka!  And  this 
is  not  good  of  you,  not  good  at  all !  Get  mad  if  you 
please,  but  I  shall  always  stick  to  mother  truth.  You  're 
all  wrong." 

And  the  captain  got  up  and  turned  his  back  on 
Rostof. 

"Wight!  Devil  take  it!"  screamed  Denisof,  jump- 
ing up.     *'  Now  then,  Wostof,  now  then  !  " 

Rostof,  flushing  and  turning  pale,  looked  first  at  one 
and  then  at  the  other  officer. 

"No,  gentlemen,  no....  you  do  not  think....  I  see  that 
you  are  perfectly  mistaken  in  your  opinion  of  me ....  I .... 
for  my  own  sake  ....for  the  honor  of  the  regiment  — 
what  am  I  saying  ?  And  I  will  prove  it,  that  for  my 
own  sake  also  honor  is  dear.  ^- Well,  it 's  all  the  same, 
you  're  right,  I  was  to  blame! "     Tears  stood  in  his  eyes. 

"I  was  to  blame,  to  blame  all   round Now  what 

more  do  you  want  .'*".... 

"  That 's  the  way  to  do  it,"  cried  the  captain,  turning 
round  and  slapping  him  on  the  shoulder  with  his  big 
hand. 

"  I  tell  you  !  "  cried  Denisof,  "  he  's  a  glowious  young 
fellow ! " 

"That's  the  best  way,  count,"  repeated  the  captain, 
as  if  giving  him  his  title  was  a  reward  for  his  concession. 
"  Go  and  apologize,  your  illustriousness,^  that 's  it." 

"Gentlemen,  I  will  do  anything.  No  one  shall  ever 
hear  another  word  from  me,"  declared  Rostof  in  a  low, 
supplicating  voice,  "  but  I  cannot  apologize ;  by  God,  I 
cannot !  how  can  you  expect  it  ?  How  can  I  apologize 
like  a  little  boy,  begging  forgiveness  ? " 

Denisof  laughed. 

1  VasAe  siyd^elsivo. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  191 

"  So  much  the  worse  for  you.  Bogdanuitch  is  spite- 
ful.    You  will  pay  for  your  stubbornness,"  said  Kirsten. 

**  By  God  !  't  is  not  stubbornness  !  I  cannot  describe 
to  you  what  my  feelings  are,  I  assure  you,  I  cannot." 

"Well,  do  just  as  you  please,"  said  the  captain.  "  By 
the  way,  what  has  become  of  that  worthless  scamp  ? " 
asked  he,  of  Denisof. 

'*  He  weported  himself  ill.  He  's  to  be  stwuck  off 
the  list  in  to-mowow's  orders,"  replied  Denisof. 

"  Well,  it  is  a  kind  of  illness,  there  's  no  other  way  of 
explaining  it,"  said  the  captain. 

"  Whether  illness  or  not,  he  'd  better  not  come  into  my 
sight,  I  'd  kill  him,"  cried  Denisof,  in  a  most  bloodthirsty 
manner. 

At  this  instant,  Zherkof  came  into  the  room. 

"  How  come  you  here  ?  "  exclaimed  the  officer,  ad- 
dressing the  newcomer. 

*'  Active  service,  gentlemen.  Mack  and  his  army 
have  surrendered;  it's  all  up  with  them." 

"Nonsense!  " 

"  I  saw  him  myself." 

"What!  you  saw  Mack  alive — with  his  hands  and 
his  feet.?" 

"Active  service  !  active  service  !  give  him  a  bottle,  for 
bringing  such  news  !  —  But  how  come  you  here  ?  " 

"  I  am  sent  back  to  my  regiment  on  account  of  that 
devil  of  a  Mack  !     The  Austrian  general  complained  of 

me.     I  congratulated  him  on  Mack's  arrival How 

are  you,  Rostof .''  just  out  of  a  bath  .''  " 

"  My  dear  boy,  we  've  been  having  such  a  stew  here, 
these  two  days  !  " 

The  regimental  adjutant  came  in  and  confirmed  the 
news  brought  by  Zherkof.  The  regiment  was  ordered 
to  break  camp  the  next  day. 

"Active  service,  gentlemen." 

"  Well,  glory  to  God  for  that,  we  've  lain  here  long 
enough! " 


192 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   VI 


KuTUZOF  was  retreating  toward  Vienna,  destroying 
the  bridges  behind  him  over  the  river  Inn  (at  Braunau), 
and  over  the  river  Traun  at  Linz.  On  the  fourth  of 
November,  the  Russian  army  were  crossing  the  river 
Enns.  At  noon,  the  baggage-wagons,  the  artillery,  and 
the  columns  of  the  army  stretched  through  the  city  of 
Enns,  at  both  ends  of  the  bridge.  It  was  a  mild  autumn 
day,  but  showery.  The  wide  prospect,  commanded  by 
the  height  where  stood  the  Russian  batteries  protecting 
the  bridge,  was  now  suddenly  veiled  by  a  muslin-like  cur- 
tain of  slanting  rain,  then  again  was  suddenly  still  further 
broadened  so  that  distant  objects  stood  out  distinctly, 
gleaming  in  the  sunlight  as  if  they  were  varnished. 

At  their  feet  lay  the  little  city,  with  its  white  houses 
and  red  roofs,  its  cathedral,  and  the  bridge,  on  both  ends 
of  which  the  Russian  troops  could  be  seen,  pouring 
along  in  dense  masses.  Down  the  bend  of  the  Danube, 
where  it  was  joined  by  the  waters  of  the  Enns,  could  be 
seen  boats  and  an  island  with  a  castle  and  park  ;  far- 
ther still  was  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  with  bold  rocks 
and  overgrown  with  evergreens,  while  in  the  mysterious 
distance  arose  green  mountains  with  purplish  ravines. 
The  turrets  of  a  nunnery  stood  out  above  the  wild  and 
apparently  impenetrable  pine  forest,  and  far  away,  on 
a  height  in  front,  on  the  same  side  of  the  river  Enns, 
the  enemy's  scouts  could  be  discerned. 

On  the  brow  of  the  hill,  among  the  lield-pieces,  stood 
the  general  in  command  of  the  rear-guard,  with  an 
officer  of  his  suite,  making  observations  of  the  land- 
scape with  a  glass.  A  little  behind  them,  astride  of  a 
gun-carriage,  sat  Nesvitsky,  who  had  been  sent  to  the 
rear-guard  by  the  commander-in-chief.  The  Cossack 
who  accompanied  him  was  handing  out  a  lunch-bag  and 
flask,  and  Nesvitsky  was  inviting  the  officers  to  share 
his  tarts  and  genuine  doppel-kiimmel.  The  officers 
gayly  crowded  around  him,  some  on  their  knees,  others 
sitting  Turkish  fashion  on  the  wet  grass. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  15J 

**  Certainly  that  Austrian  prince  was  no  fool  in  build- 
ing his  castle  there.  Glorious  place  l  —  You  are  not 
eating  anything,  gentlemen,"  said  Nesvitsky. 

*'  Thank  you  cordially,  -prince,"  returned  one  of  the 
officers,  glad  of  the  chance  to  exchange  a  word  with 
such  an  important  member  of  Kutuzof 's  suite.  ''  Yqs, 
it 's  a  splendid  place.  We  rode  by  that  very  park,  saw 
a  couple  of  deer  —  and  it's  a  magnificent  house !  " 

**  Look,  prince,"  said  another,  who  would  very  gladly 
have  accepted  another  tart,  but  was  ashamed  to  do  so, 
and  was,  therefore,  pretending  to  examine  the  land- 
scape. "  Look  yonder,  our  infantry  have  got  in  already. 
Look  there,  on  that  meadow,  behind  the  village,  three 
men  are  dragging  something  along.  They  '11  clear  out 
that  little  place,  quick  enough !  "  said  he,  with  evident 
approval. 

**Yes,  that's  so,"  said  Nesvitsky.  "Ah!  but  what 
I  should  like,"  he  added,  stuffing  a  tart  into  his  hand- 
some moist  mouth,  "  I  should  like  to  get  in  yonder !  " 

He  pointed  to  the  turreted  convent  which  could  be 
seen  on  the  mountain  side.  He  smiled,  and  his  eyes 
contracted  and  flashed.  "That  would  be  some  fun,, 
gentlemen !  " 

The  officers  laughed. 

"How  I  should  like  to  frighten  those  little  nuns! 
Italians,  they  say,  and  some  of  them  young  and  pretty. 
Truly,  I  would  give  five  years  of  my  life!  " 

"  Well,  they  must  find  it  a  bore,"  said  an  officer, 
bolder  than  the  rest,  with  a  laugh. 

Meantime,  the  officer  of  the  suite,  standing  on  the 
brow  of  the  hill,  was  pointing  out  something  to  the  gen- 
eral, who  scrutinized  it  with  his  field-glass. 

"  Yes,  that  is  so,  that  is  so,"  said  the  general, 
gravely,  taking  the  glass  from  his  eyes  and  shrug- 
ging his  shoulders.  "  You  are  right,  they  are  going 
to  fire  at  them  as  they  cross  the  river.  Why  do  they 
dawdle  so  .-*  " 

In  that  direction,  even  with  the  naked  eye,  could  be 
seen  the  enemy  and   his  battery,   from  which  arose  a. 
milk-white  puff  of  smoke.     After  a  while  followed  the 
VOL.  I.  — 13 


194  WAR    AND    PEACE 

distant  report,  and  it  could  be  seen  how  the  Russian 
troops  were  hastening  to  get  across  the  river. 

Nesvitsky,  having  got  his  breath,  dismounted  from  the 
cannon  and,  with  a  smile,  went  up  to  the  general :  — 

**  Would  n't  your  excellency  like  to  have  a  bite  of  lun- 
'<:heon  ?  "  he  asked. 

*'  It 's  all  wrong,"  said  the  general,  not  answering  him. 
**  Our  men  are  so  slow." 

"  Shall  I  not  go  down  to  them,  your  excellency  ? " 
asked  Nesvitsky. 

"  Yes,  do  go  down,  please,"  replied  the  general,  re- 
iterating orders  which  he  had  already  given.  "And 
tell  the  hussars  to  cross  last  and  burn  the  bridge,  as  I 
commanded,  and  see  to  it  that  they  collect  combustible 
materials  on  it." 

"Very  good,"  said  Nesvitsky. 

He  called  the  Cossack  to  bring  up  his  horse,  bade  hini 
pack  up  the  bag  and  flask,  and  lightly  swung  his  heavy 
body  into*  the  saddle. 

"  Truly,  I  'm  going  to  that  nunnery,"  said  he  to  the 
officers,  who  were  looking  at  him  with  a  smile,  and  then 
galloped  off  down  the  path  that  skirted  the  hill. 

"  Now,  then,  captain,  try  if  you  can  reach  them  — • 
take  good  aim,"  said  the  general,  turning  to  the  artillery 
officer.     "  You  '11  relieve  the  monotony  by  a  little  fun." 

"Serve  the  guns,"  commanded  the  officer,  and  in  a 
minute  the  gunners  were  running  with  a  will  from  their 
bivouac  fires,  and  beginning  to  load. 

"  Number  one,"  rang  the  command. 

"  Number  one "  rushed  spitefully  away.  With  a 
deafening  metallic  ring,  the  cannon  resounded  and  the 
whizzing,  whirling  shell  flew  far  away  over  the  head  of 
the  Russians  in  the  valley,  and  then  a  spurt  of  smoke 
showed  where  it  had  fallen  and  burst  long  before  it 
reached  the  enemy. 

The  faces  of  officers  and  men  grew  radiant  at  the 
noise  of  it ;  all  leaped  to  their  feet  and  watched  with 
intense  curiosity  the  motions  of  their  troops  in  the  valley 
below  them,  and  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  all  spread 
out  before  them  "  as  on  the  palm  of  the  hand." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  1^5 

At  the  moment  the  gun  had  been  fired,  the  sun  came 
out  entirely  from  under  the  clouds,  and  the  report  of  the 
cannon  and  the  brilliancy  of  the  unclouded  sun  mingled 
in  one  single  martial  and  joyous  impression. 


CHAPTER   VII 

Two  of  the  enemy's  shots  had  already  been  fired  at 
the  men  as  they  crossed  the  river,  and  on  the  bridge 
there  was  a  jam.  Half  way  across  stood  Prince  Nes- 
vitsky,  who  had  dismounted  from  his  horse,  and  was 
leaning  with  his  stout  body  against  the  parapet.  Laugh- 
ing, he  looked  back  at  his  Cossack,  who  stood  a  short 
distance  behind  him,  holding  the  bridles  of  their  two 
horses.  As  soon  as  Prince  Nesvitsky  tried  to  force  his 
way  forward,  the  throng  of  soldiers  and  baggage-wagons 
crowded  him  and  forced  him  up  against  the  parapet, 
and  nothing  was  left  for  him  but  to  wait. 

"  Look  out  there,  my  boy !  "  cried  the  Cossack  to  a 
soldier  who  was  driving  a  baggage-wagon  and  forcing 
his  way  right  into  the  infantry,  as  they  thronged  under 
the  horses'  feet  and  among  the  wheels.  '*  Look  out 
there  !  Have  a  little  patience,  don't  you  see  the  general 
wants  to  pass  ?  " 

But  the  driver,  paying  no  heed  to  the  title  of  general, 
only  cried  to  the  soldiers  who  blocked  his  way  :  "  Hey 
there,  boys!  keep  to  the  left,  hold  on!  " 

But  the  Russian  soldiers,  crowding  shoulder  to  shoulder, 
and  clutching  their  bayonets,  moved  on  across  the  bridge 
in  one  unbroken  mass. 

As  Nesvitsky  looked  down  over  the  parapet,  he  could 
see  the  swift  babbling  ripples  of  the  Enns  chase  one 
another  along  as  they  bubbled,  curled,  and  foamed 
around  the  piers  of  the  bridge.  Looking  at  the  bridge 
he  saw  the  almost  incessant  living  waves  of  soldiery, 
tassels,  shakoes  with  covers,  knapsacks,  bayonets,  and 
long  muskets,  and  under  the  shakoes,  faces  with  wide 
cheek-bones,  sunken  cheeks,  and  careless  weary  eyes» 


,96  WAR   AND    PEACE 

and  legs  trampling  through  the  sticky  mud  tha"  covered 
the  planks  of  the  bridge. 

Sometimes  among  the  monotonous  waves  of  the  in- 
fantry, like  a  spurt  of  white  foam  on  the  ripples  of  the 
Ehns,  an  officer  in  riding-cloak  would  force  his  way 
through,  his  face  noticeable  for  its  refinement  in  con- 
trast to  the  men.  Then  again,  like  a  chip  borne  along 
on  the  river,  a  hussar  on  foot,  an  officer,  a  servant,  or  a 
civilian,  would  be  carried  across  the  bridge  by  the  tide 
of  troops;  and  sometimes,  like  a  log  floating  down- 
stream, an  officer,  a  company,  or  a  baggage-wagon 
loaded  to  the  top  and  covered  with  leather,  would  roll 
across  the  bridge,  submerged  in  the  throng. 

"See,  it's  like  a  freshet  breaking  through  a  dyke," 
said  the  Cossack,  hopelessly  blocked.  "  Say!  are  there 
many  more  of  you  to  come.''" 

"A  million,  minus  one,"  replied  a  jolly  soldier  in  a 
torn  overcoat,  winking  as  he  passed.  In  an  instant  he 
was  carried  by  ;  behind  him  came  an  old  soldier. 

"  When  he''  {Jie,  that  is  the  enemy)  "takes  to  making  it 
hot  for  us  on  the  bridge,"  said  the  old  soldier,  glumly,  in 
his  Tambof  dialect,  addressing  a  comrade,  "  we  shan't 
stop  to  scratch  ourselves."  And  the  Tambof  soldier  and 
his  com.rade  passed  beyond. 

Following  them,  came  a  soldier  riding  on  a  baggage- 
wagon. 

"Where- the  devil  did  I  put  my  leg  wrappers.?"  ex- 
claimed a  servant,  hurrying  behind  the  wagon  and  rum- 
maging into  the  rear  of  it.  And  he  in  turn  was  borne 
past  with  the  wagon. 

Behind  them  came  a  jovial  band  of  soldiers,  who  had 
evidently  been  drinking.  "  My  dear  fellow,  he  hit  him 
with  the  butt-end  of  his  gun,  right  in  the  teeth,"  gayly 
said  one  of  the  soldiers,  who  wore  the  collar  of  his  over- 
coat turned  up  and  was  eagerly  gesticulating. 

"  Good  for  him,  a  regular  milksop  !  "  ^  said  the  other, 
with  a  loud  laugh.  And  they  too  passed  by.  So  that 
Nesvitsky  did  not  find  out  who  was  struck  in  the  teeth 
and  to  whom  the  epithet  applied. 

iRuss:  the  sweet  ham. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  197 

"  Bah  !  they  're  in  such  a  hurry  !  Because  he  fired  a 
blank  cartridge  one  ^yould  think  they  were  all  in  danger 
of  being  killed,"  said  a  non-commissioned  officer,  in  an 
angry,  reproachful  tone. 

**When  it  flew  by  me — that  round  shot,"  said  a 
young  soldier  with  a  monstrous  mouth,  "  I  thought  I 
was  dead.  Fact!  I  was  that  frightened,  by  God," 
added  the  soldier,  scarcely  restraining  himself  from 
laughing  outright  with  pleasure  at  the  thought  of  being 
so  frightened.     And  he  too  passed  on. 

Behind  him  came  a  vehicle  unlike  any  that  had  passed 
so  far.  This  was  a  German  V^orspanii,  loaded  appar- 
ently with  the  effects  of  a  whole  household ;  behind  the 
cart,  which  was  drawn  by  a  pair  of  horses  driven  by 
a  German,  was  a  handsome  brindled  cow,  with  an 
enormous  udder.  On  a  pile  of  feather-beds  sat  a  woman 
with  a  baby  at  the  breast,  an  old  granny,  and  a  young, 
healthy-looking  German  girl,  with  flaming  red  cheeks. 
Evidently  these  natives  were  availing  themselves  of  the 
general  permission  to  remove  with  all  their  possessions. 
The  eyes  of  the  soldiers  were  fixed  upon  the  women,  and 
as  the  cart  moved  forward  at  a  slow  pace,  step  by  step, 
all  sorts  of  remarks  were  directed  at  the  two  young 
women.  Almost  all  the  faces  wore  the  peculiar  smile 
suggested  by  unseemly  thoughts  concerning  them. 

"  Look  ye,  that  sausage  there!  she  's  moving  too." 

"  Sell  me  the  little  woman,"  cried  another  soldier  to 
the  German,  who  with  downcast  eyes  walked  with  long 
strides,  frightened  and  solemn. 

"  Eh  !  ain't  she  gay  !     They  're  fine  little  devils  !  " 

''There's  a  chance  for  you  to  make  up  to  'em,  Fye- 
dotof!" 

''  Did  you  ever  see  anything  like  it,  old  fellow  }  " 

*'  Where  are  you  going } "  asked  an  infantry  officer, 
who,  as  he  munched  an  apple,  looked  up  at  the  pretty 
German  girl  with  a  half-smile. 

The  German  shut  his  eyes,  signifying  that  he  did  not 
understand. 

"  If  you  'd  like  it,  take  it,"  said  the  officer,  giving  the 
girl  an  apple.     She  took  it  and  thanked  him  with  a  smile. 


198  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Nesvitsky,  like  all  the  rest  who  were  on  the  bridge, 
kept  his  eyes  on  the  women  till  they  vanished  from  sight. 
After  they  had  passed  beyond,  came  the  same  kind  of 
soldiers  with  the  same  interchange  of  repartee,  and  then 
at  length  they  all  came  to  a  halt.  As  often  happens, 
the  horses  attached  to  some  company's  baggage-wagon 
became  entangled  at  the  end  of  the  bridge,  and  the 
whole  line  was  obliged  to  halt. 

**  What  are  they  waiting  for.?  There's  no  order," 
said  the  soldiers.  "Don't  crowd  !"  —  *' The  devil!" 
"  Why  can't  you  have  patience  !  "  —  "  It  will  be  worse 
than  this  when  he  sets  the  bridge  on  fire."  —  "  You  're 
crushing  that  officer  !  " 

Such  were  the  remarks  made  on  all  sides  among  the 
halting  columns,  as  the  men  looked  at  one  another  and 
still  kept  trying  to  push  forward  toward  the  outlet. 

As  Nesvitsky  looked  under  the  bridge  at  the  water 
of  the  Enns,  he  suddenly  heard  a  sound  that  was  new 
in  his  ears — of  something  swiftly  approaching  him,.... 
of  something  huge,  and  something  that  splashed  into  the 
water. 

"  Did  you  see  where  that  flew  to.?"  gravely  asked  a 
soldier  who  was  standing  near  and  trying  to  follow  the 
sound. 

"  They  are  encouraging  us  to  move  a  little  faster," 
said  another  uneasily.  Again  the  throng  began  to  move 
along.  Nesvitsky  realized  that  it  had  been  a  cannon- 
ball. 

"He!  Cossack!  bring  me  my  horse!  "  he  said.  "You 
there !  make  way,  get  out  of  the  way  !  Clear  the 
road  !  " 

By  main  force  he  managed  to  swing  himself  on  his 
horse.  By  shouting  constantly,  he  succeeded  in  forcing 
his  way  forward.  The  soldiers  crowded  together  so  as 
to  let  him  pass,  but  immediately  after  pressed  on  his 
heels  so  that  they  squeezed  his  leg,  and  those  who  were 
nearest  could  not  helpT  themselves  because  they  were 
pushed  on  from  behind. 

"  Nesvitsky!  Nesvitsky  !  is  it  you,  you  old  fwight?" 
cried  a  hoarse  voice  just  behind  him. 


WAK    AJNU    ft.AL,t.  I99 

Nesvitsky  turned  round  and  saw,  twenty  paces  away 
but  separated  from  him  by  this  hving  mass  of  hurrying 
infantry,  the  handsome  Vaska  Denisof,  shaggy  as  ever, 
with  his  cap  on  the  back  of  his  head,  and  with  his 
hussar's  pehsse  jauntily  flung  back  over  his  shoulder. 

"  Tell  these  devils,  these  fiends,  to  give  us  woom," 
cried  Denisof,  going  into  a  paroxysm  of  rage,  his  coal- 
black  eyes,  with  their  bloodshot  whites,  rolling  and 
flashing  while  he  brandished  his  unsheathed  saber,  in 
his  bare  little  hand,  as  red  as  his  face. 

'*  He!  Vasya,"  replied  Nesvitsky,  delighted,  "is  that 
you  ?  " 

"  Can't  get  thwough  the  sqwadwon,"  cried  Vaska 
Denisof,  angrily,  showing  his  shining  teeth  and  spurring 
on  his  handsome  coal-black  Bedouin,  which  pricked 
back  his  ears  at  the  touch  of  the  bayonets,  and,  snorting 
and  scattering  around  him  the  froth  from  his  bit,  was 
pawing  impatiently  the  planks  of  the  bridge,  apparently 
ready  to  leap  over  the  parapet,  if  only  his  rider  gave 
the  permission.  **  What  does  this  mean  ?  Like  sheep  ! 
Just  like  sheep  !  Out  of  the  way  !  —  give  us  woom  to 
pass!  Hold  on  there,  you  man  dwiving  that  wagon! 
dwat  it !  I  '11  cut  you  into  mince-meat,"  he  cried,  actually 
drawing  his  saber  and  beginning  to  flourish  it. 

The  soldiers,  with  frightened  faces,  crowded  closer 
together,  and  Denisof  managed  to  reach  Nesvitsky. 

"  So  you  are  n't  drunk  to-day  }  "  said  Nesvitsky,  as 
Denisof  joined  him. 

"They  don't  give  us  time  to  get  dwunk,"  replied 
Vaska.  "The  wegiment  has  been  wunning  this  way 
and  that  way  all  day  long.  If  we  're  going  to  fight,  then 
let  us  fight.     But  the  devil  knows  what  all  this  means," 

"  How  fine  you  are  these  days  !  "  said  Nesvitsky, 
glancing  at  his  new  pelisse  and  housings. 

Denisof  smiled,  took  his  scented  handkerchief  from 
his  sabretash,  and  held  it  to  Nesvitsky's  nose. 

"  Can't  help  it !  I  'm  going  into  action,  pe'haps  I 
and  so  I  shaved,  bwushed  my  teeth,  and  perfumed 
myself !  " 

Nesvitsky's  imposing  figure,  with  his  Cossack  in  at- 


200  WAR    AND    PEACE 

tendance,  and  Denisof  s  determination,  as  he  flourished 
his  saber  and  shouted  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  enabled 
them  to  get  to  the  farther  end  of  the  bridge  and  halt 
the  infantry.  Nesvitsky  there  found  the  colonel,  to 
whom  he  was  obliged  to  deliver  the  message,  and  having 
accomplished  his  errand  he  rode  back. 

After  the  way  was  cleared,  Denisof  reined  up  his 
horse  at  the  exit  of  the  bridge.  Carelessly  holding  in 
his  stallion,  which  stood  pawing  with  one  hoof  anxious 
to  join  his  fellows,  he  gazed  at  the  squadrons  that  were 
moving  in  his  direction.  The  hoof-beats  of  the  eager 
horses  sounded  hollow  on  the  flooring  of  the  bridge, 
and  the  squadrons,  with  the  officers  riding  in  advance, 
hastened  across  the  bridge,  four  men  abreast,  and  began 
to  pour  off  from  the  other  end. 

The  infantry,  which  had  halted  in  the  mud  and  were 
packed  together,  gazed  at  the  neat,  jaunty  hussars,  riding 
by  in  good  order,  with  that  peculiar  malevolent  feeling 
of  jealousy  and  scorn  with  which  different  branches  of 
the  service  are  apt  to  regard  each  other. 

''Very  tidy  lads  !  but  only  fit  for  the  Podnovinskoye." 

"  What  's  the  use  of  them  ?  They  're  merely  for 
show,"  said  another. 

"  You  infantrymen,  don't  kick  up  such  a  dust ! " 
jestingly  shouted  a  hussar,  whose  horse  playfully  spat- 
tered the  foot-soldier  with  mud. 

"  If  you  'd  been  forced  to  march  two  stages  with  a 
knapsack,  your  gold  lace  would  be  tarnished,"  said  the 
infantryman,  wiping  the  mud  from  his  face  with  his 
sleeve.     "You  're  not  a  man,  but  a  bird,  on  that  horse!" 

*'  Well  now,  Zikin,  if  they  should  put  you  on  a  horse, 
you  'd  have  an  easy  time  of  it ;  you  'd  make  a  graceful 
rider,"  jestingly  remarked  the  corporal,  aiming  his  jest 
at  the  lean  little  soldier  who  was  bent  almost  double 
under  the  weight  of  his  knapsack. 

''  Take  a  broomstick  between  your  legs ;  that  would 
be  a  good  enough  horse  for  you,"  retorted  the  hussar. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  201 


CHAPTER  VIII 


The  rest  of  the  infantry  hurriedly  marched  across  the 
bridge,  though  they  were  crowded  in  the  tunnel-like 
passage  at  the  end.  At  last  all  the  baggage-wagons 
had  crossed,  the  crush  became  less,  and  the  last  battalion 
marched  upon  the  bridge. 

Only  the  hussars  of  Denisof's  command  were  left  at 
the  end  of  the  bridge  toward  the  enemy.  The  enemy, 
though  plainly  visible  from  the  heights  opposite,  could 
not  as  yet  be  seen  from  the  level  of  the  bridge,  since 
from  the  valley,  through  which  flows  the  river  Enns,  the 
horizon  is  bounded  by  an  eminence  lying  about  half  a 
verst  distant. 

Directly  in  front  was  a  plot  of  waste  land,  over  which 
here  and  there  moved  bands  of  Cossack  patrols. 

Suddenly,  on  the  height  opposite  the  road,  appeared 
troops  in  blue  capotes  and  accompanied  by  artillery. 

It  was  the  French  ! 

A  patrol  of  Cossacks  came  galloping  down  the  road. 
All  the  officers  and  men  of  Denisof's  squadron,  though 
they  tried  hard  to  talk  of  different  things  and  to  look  in 
other  directions,  nevertheless  were  unable  to  keep  out 
of  their  thoughts  what  was  there  before  them  on  the 
hill,  and  their  eyes,  constantly  turned  to  those  patches 
which  were  moving  against  the  horizon,  and  which  they 
knew  were  the  troops  of  the  enemy. 

It  was  now  afternoon,  and  the  weather  had  cleared ; 
the  sun  was  sinking  brilliantly  over  the  Danube  and 
the  forest-clad  mountains  that  walled  him  in.  There 
was  no  wind,  and  occasionally  from  that  hilltop  rang 
the  notes  of  bugles  and  the  shouts  of  the  enemy. 
Between  the  squadron  and  the  enemy  there  was  now 
no  one  except  the  scattered  scouts.  The  space  be- 
tween them  was  only  a  little  more  than  two  thousand 
feet.  The  enemy  had  ceased  to  fire,  and  all  the  more 
distinctly  was  felt  that  solemn,  ominous  gap,  unap- 
proachable and  inexorable,  that  divides  two  hostile 
armies. 


202  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  One  step  beyond  that  line,  which  is  like  the  bourn 
that  divides  the  living  from  the  dead,  and  there  is  the 
Unknown  of  suffering  and  of  death.  And  what  is 
there  ?  Who  is  there  ?  there,  beyond  that  field,  beyond 
that  tree,  and  that  roof,  glittering  in  the  sun  ?  No  one 
knows,  and  no  one  wishes  to  know,  and  it  is  terrible  to 
pass  across  that  line,  and  I  know  that  sooner  or  later  I 
shall  have  to  cross  it,  and  shall  then  know  what  is  there 
on  that  side  of  the  line,  just  as  inevitably  as  I  shall 
know  what  is  on  the  other  side  of  death.  And  yet  I 
am  strong,  full  of  life,  joy,  and  exuberant  spirits,  and 
surrounded  by  other  men,  just  as  full  of  health  and 
exuberant  spirits." 

Thus  every  man  feels,  even  if  he  does  not  formulate 
it  in  his  thought,  when  he  comes  in  sigh't  of  the  enemy, 
and  this  feeling  lends  a  peculiar  vividness  and  distinct- 
ness of  impression  to  everything  that  occurs  at  such 
moments. 

On  the  hill  where  the  enemy  were  arose  a  puff  of 
smoke,  and  a  cannon-ball,  whistling,  flew  over  the  heads 
of  the  squadron  of  hussars.  The  officers,  who  had  been 
standing  together,  scattered  to  their  posts ;  the  hussars 
began  to  get  their  horses  into  regular  line.  No  one 
spoke  in  the  ranks.  All  looked  intently  at  the  enemy 
and  at  the  commander,  and  awaited  the  word  of  command. 

A  second,  a  third  shot  flew  over  them.  Evidently, 
the  enemy  were  firing  at  the  hussars,  but  the  cannon- 
balls,  whistling  as  they  flew  swiftly  by,  went  far  over 
their  heads  and  fell  somewhere  in  the  rear. 

The  hussars  did  not  look  up,  but  each  time  that  they 
heard  the  whizz  of  the  ball,  the  whole  squadron,  with 
their  monotonously  diverse  faces,  holding  their  breaths 
until  the  cannon-shot  had  passed  over,  raised  themselves 
in  their  stirrups  as  if  by  orders,  and  then  settled  back 
again.  The  soldiers,  not  turning  their  heads,  looked  at 
one  another  out  of  the  corners  of  their  eyes,  each  curious 
to  know  what  impression  was  produced  upon  his  neigh- 
bor. On  every  face,  from  Denisof's  to  the  trumpeter's, 
there  was  around  the  lips  and  chin  a  common  expres- 
sion of  internal  struggle,  excitement,  and  agitation.     The 


WAR    AND    PEACE  203 

quartermaster  frowned,  and  looked  at  the  men  as  if  he 
meditated  inflicting  punishment  upon  them.  The  yunker, 
Mironof,  ducked  his  head  each  time  that  the  ball  flew 
over.  Rostof,  posted  on  the  left  flank,  on  his  prancing 
Grachik,  had  the  delighted  look  of  a  school-boy  called 
out^  before  a  great  audience  to  pass  his  examination,  in 
which  he  believes  that  he  is  going  to  distinguish  him- 
self. He  looked  at  every  one  with  a  face  unclouded 
and  bright,  as  if  asking  them  to  bear  him  witness  that 
he  was  perfectly  calm  under  fire.  But  in  even  his  face, 
the  same  expression,  indicative  of  something  new  and 
solemn,  showed  itself  around  his  mouth,  against  his  will. 

"  Who  's  that  making  a  bow,  there  ?  Yunker  Miwonof, 
you  ?  It  is  n't  wight,  look  at  me  !  "  cried  Denisof,  who 
could  not  keep  still,  but  kept  riding  up  and  down  in 
front  of  the  squadron. 

Vaska  Denisof,  with  his  snub  nose  and  black  hair, 
his  little  bent  figure,  his  sinewy  hand  with  short,  hairy 
fingers,  grasping  the  hilt  of  his  drawn  sword,  was  just 
the  same  as  usual,  or,  rather,  just  the  same  as  he  was 
apt  to  be  in  the  evening,  after  he  had  been  drinking  a 
couple  of  bottles.  Only  he  was  a  trifle  ruddier  than 
ordinary ,^  and,  carrying  his  head  very  high,  like  a  bird 
when  it  is  drinking,  he  pitilessly  plunged  the  spurs  into 
the  flanks  of  his  good  Bedouin,  and  galloped  back  to  the 
other  flank  of  the  squadron,  and  cried  out  in  a  hoarse 
voice  his  orders  that  they  should  examine  their  pistols. 

Then  he  rode  off  toward  Kirsten,  the  second  captain, 
who  came  up  to  meet  Denisof,  walking  his  broad  and 
steady-going  mare.  The  captain,  with  his  long  mus- 
taches, was  as  grave  as  usual,  but  his  eyes  flashed  with 
unwonted  brilliancy. 

"Well,  how  is  it.?"  said  he  to  Denisof.  "It  won't 
come  to  a  fight.     You  '11  see,  we  shall  be  ordered  back." 

''  The  deuce  only  knows  what  they  '11  do,"  replied 
Denisof. 

"Ah  !  Wostof  !  "  he  cried  to  the  yunker,  noticing  his 
radiant  face.    "  Well,  now 's  your  chance ! "  and  he  smiled . 
approvingly,  evidently  feeling  proud  of  the  yunker. 

Rostof  felt  perfectly  happy.     At  this  moment,  an  offi- 


204  WAR   AND    PEACE 

cer  of  high  rank  appeared  on  the  bridge.  Denisof 
spurred  off  to  meet  him. 

*'  Your  excellency,  let  us  attack  'em !  I  will  dwive  'em 
back!" 

"  Attack  them  !  "  cried  the  officer,  showing  his  annoy- 
ance in  his  voice,  and  frowning  as  if  at  a  persistent 
fly.  "  And  why  are  you  delaying  here .''  Don't  you  see 
the  flankers  are  withdrawing.  Order  your  squadron 
back." 

The  squadron  crossed  the  bridge  and  retired  beyond 
reach  of  the  shots,  not  having  lost  a  single  man.  Behind 
them  came  a  second  squadron  which  had  formed  the 
rear-guard,  and,  last  of  all,  the  Cossacks  crossed  to  the 
farther  side. 

The  two  squadrons  of  the  Pavlograd  regiment,  cross- 
ing the  bridge,  one  after  the  other,  galloped  up  the  road. 
The  regimental  commander,  Karl  Bogdanovitch  Schu- 
bert, overtook  Denisof's  squadron,  and  walked  his  horse 
along,  not  far  from  Rostof,  but  without  giving  him  the 
slightest  notice,  although  it  was  the  first  time  that  they 
had  met  since  their  quarrel  about  Telyanin. 

Rostof,  who  realized,  now  that  he  was  in  line,  that  he 
was  in  the  power  of  the  man  toward  whom  he  felt  guilty, 
did  not  take  his  eyes  from  the  colonel's  athletic  back, 
the  light  hair  at  the  back  of  his  head,  and  his  red  neck. 
Sometimes,  it  seemed  to  Rostof  that  Bogdanuitch  was 
merely  pretending  not  to  notice  him,  and  that  his  whole 
aim  now  was  to  try  the  yunker's  courage,  and  he  straight- 
ened himself  up  and  looked  around  him  gayly ;  then, 
again,  it  seemed  to  him  that  Bogdanuitch  rode  close  to 
him  to  display  his  own  courage.  Now,  it  occurred  to 
him  that  his  opponent  was  going  to  send  the  squadron 
into  some  forlorn  hope,  in  order  to  punish  him.  And 
then  again,  it  occurred  to  him  that  after  the  affray  he 
would  come  to  him  and  magnanimously  extend  to  him 
the  hand  of  reconciliation,  in  honor  of  the  wound  which 
he  should  receive. 

The  high-shouldered  Zherkof,  well-known  to  the  Pav- 
lograd boys,  having  not  long  since  been  in  their  regi- 
ment, came   riding  up  to  the  regimental   commander. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  205 

Zherkof,  after  his  dismissal  from  the  general's  staff,  had 
not  remained  in  the  regiment,  saying  that  he  was  not 
such  a  fool  as  to  put  on  the  "  tugging-collar "  in  the 
ranks,  when,  by  serving  on  the  staff  and  having  nothing 
to  do,  he  could  gain  greater  rewards,  and  so  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  himself  appointed  as  special  orderly 
to  Prince  Bagration.  He  now  came  up  to  his  former 
chief  with  a  message  from  the  commander  of  the  rear- 
guard. 

"Colonel,"  said  he,  with  his  most  melancholy  assump- 
tion of  gravity,  turning  to  Rostof's  opponent,  and  glan- 
cing at  his  comrades,  ''you  are  ordered  to  halt  and  burn 
the  bridge." 

"  Who  orders  it  ?  "  asked  the  colonel,  testily. 

"Well,  I  don't  know,  colonel,  who  orders  it,"  replied 
the  cornet,  gravely,  "  but  the  prince  said  to  me  :  '  Go  and 
tell  the  colonel  that  the  hussars  are  to  return  as  quickly 
as  possible  and  burn  the  bridge.'  " 

Immediately  after  Zherkof,  an  officer  of  the  suite  rode 
up  to  the  colonel  of  hussars,  with  the  same  order.  And 
immediately  after  the  officer  of  the  suite,  came  the  stout 
Nesvitsky,  galloping  up  with  all  his  might,  on  his  Cos- 
sack's horse,  which  could  hardly  carry  him. 

"  How  is  it,  colonel,"  he  cried,  while  still  at  a  distance. 
"  I  told  you  to  burn  the  bridge,  but  novv^  some  one  has 
mistaken  the  order ;  everybody  here  has  lost  his  wits, 
and  there  's  nothing  done  right." 

The  colonel  took  his  time  in  halting  the  regiment,  and 
turned  to  Nesvitsky:  — 

"  You  told  me  to  burn  up  the  combustibles,"  said  he, 
"but  as  to  burning  that,  you  did  not  say  a  word." 

"  What 's  that,  batyushka,"  exclaimed  Nesvitsky,  rein- 
ing in  his  horse,  taking  off  his  cap,  and  with  his  fat 
hand  brushing  back  his  hair,  dripping  with  perspiration. 
"How's  that.?  Didn't  I  say  that  the  bridge  was  to 
be  burned,  when  you  burned  all  the  combustibles  ? " 

"  I  won't  be  called  batyushka  by  you.  Mister  Staff 
Officer,  and  you  did  not  tell  me  to  burn  the  bridge.  I 
know  my  duties,  and  I  am  accustomed  faithfully  to  carry 
out  what  I  am  commanded  to  do.     You  said  the  bridge 


2o6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

was  to  be  burned,  but  who  was  to  do  it,  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  I  could  not  tell."  .... 

"  Well,  that 's  always  the  way,"  cried  Nesvitsky,  with" 
a  wave  of  the  hand.  "What  are  you  doing  here  .^^  "  he 
asked,  turning  to  Zhcrkof. 

"  Exactly  the  same  thing  as  you  are  !  but  how  wet  you 
are  !  let  me  wring  you  out !  " 

"You  said,  Mister  Staff  Officer" ....  proceeded  the 
colonel,  in  an  offended  tone. 

"Colonel,"  interrupted  the  officer  from  the  suite, 
"  you  must  make  haste,  or  else  the  enemy  will  be  pour- 
ing grape-shot  into  us." 

The  colonel  silently  looked  at  the  officer  from  the 
suite,  at  stout  Prince  Nesvitsky,  and  at  Zherkof,  and 
frowned. 

"  I  will  burn  the  bridge,"  said  he,  in  a  solemn  voice, 
as  if  to  express  by  it  that  in  spite  of  all  the  disagreeable 
things  that  happened  to  him,  he  was  always  prepared 
to  do  his  duty. 

Spurring  his  horse  with  his  long,  muscular  legs,  as 
if  the  animal  were  to  blame  for  everything,  the  colonel 
started  forward,  and  ordered  the  second  squadron,  in 
which  Rostof  served,  to  return,  under  the  command  of 
Denisof,  and  burn  the  bridge. 

"  Well,  that 's  the  way  it  is,"  said  Rostof  to  himself. 
"  He  wants  to  try  me."  His  heart  beat  and  the  blood 
rushed  to  his  face.  "  Let  him  see  if  I  am  a  coward," 
he  thought. 

Once  more,  over  all  the  happy  faces  of  the  men  in 
the  squadron  appeared  that  same  serious  expression 
which  they  had  worn  at  the  time  that  they  were  under 
fire.  Rostof,  not  taking  his  eyes  from  his  opponent, 
the  regimental  commander,  tried  to  discover  in  his  face 
a  confirmation  of  his  suspicions ;  but  the  colonel  did  not 
once  look  at  Rostof,  but  as  usual  gazed  sternly  and 
solemnly  along  the  line.  The  word  of  command  was 
heard. 

"Lively!  lively!"  cried  voices,  around  him.  With 
their  sabers  catching  in  the  reins,  with  rattling  spurs, 
the  hussars  dismounted  in  all  haste,  not  knowing  what 


WAR    AND    PEACE  207 

they  were  to  do.  They  crossed  themselves.  Rostof 
now  looked  no  more  at  the  colonel,  he  had  no  time. 
He  was  afraid,  afraid  with  a  real  sinking  of  the  heart, 
lest  he  should  be  left  behind  by  the  hussars.  His  hand 
trembled  as  he  turned  his  horse  over  to  the  groom,  and 
he  felt  how  the  blood  was  rushing  back  to  his  heart. 
Denisof,  on  his  way  back,  shouted  something  to  him 
as  he  passed.  Rostof  saw  nothing  except  the  hussars 
running  by  his  side,  with  impeding  spurs  and  rattling 
sabers. 

"  The  stretchers !  "  cried  some  voice  behind  him,  but 
Rostof  did  not  stop  to  think  what  that  demand  for 
stretchers  meant ;  he  ran  on,  striving  only  to  be  in 
advance  of  the  others,  but  at  the  very  bridge,  not  look- 
ing where  he  stepped,  slipped  in  the  slimy,  sheeted 
mud,  stumbled,  and  fell  on  his  hands  and  knees.  The 
others  dashed  ahead  of  him. 

"  At  both  sides,  captain,"  shouted  the  regimental  com- 
mander, who,  having  ridden  ahead,  had  reined  in  his 
horse  not  far  from  the  bridge,  and  sat  looking  on  with 
a  triumphant  and  radiant  expression. 

Rostof,  wiping  his  soiled  hands  on  his  riding-trousers, 
glanced  at  his  opponent  and  determined  to  go  on,  think- 
ing that  the  farther  forward  he  went,  the  better  it  would 
be.  But  Bogdanuitch,  without  looking  at  him,  or  even 
noticing  that  it  was  Rostof,  cried  to  him :  — 

"  Who  is  that  in  the  middle  of  the  bridge  ?  Take  the 
right  side  !  Yunker,  come  back !  "  he  shouted  testily, 
and  then  turned  to  Denisof,  who,  making  a  show  of 
his  foolhardiness,  was  riding  upon  the  bridge. 

''  Why  run  such  risks,  captain  ?  You  'd  better  dis- 
mount," cried  the  colonel. 

"  He !  he  always  finds  some  one  in  fault,"  replied 
Vaska  Denisof,  turning  in  his  saddle. 

Meantime,  Nesvitsky,  Zherkof,  and  the  staff-officer 
stood  in  a  little  group,  out  of  range,  and  watched  now 
the  little  band  of  hussars,  in  yellow  shakoes,  dark-green 
roundabouts  embroidered  with  gold  lace,  and  blue  trou- 
sers, wlio  were  swarming  over  the  bridge ;  and  now,  in 


2o8  WAR    AND    PEACE 

the  other  du-cction,  looked  at  the  blue  capotes  march- 
ing  down  from  the  distant  hill,  and  the  groups  with 
horses,  which  could  easily  be  recognized  as  field- 
pieces. 

''Will  they  get  the  bridge  burnt,  or  not?"  —  "Who 
is  ahead?"  —  "Will  they  have  time  to  set  the  bridge 
on  fire,  or  will  the  French  turn  grape  on  them  and 
drive  them  back?" 

Such  questions  as  these,  every  man  ii;!  the  great  band 
of  soldiers  that  w^as  stationed  near  the  bridge  involun- 
tarily asked  himself,  as  he  looked  that  bright  afternoon 
at  the  bridge,  and  at  the  hussars,  and  then  again,  on 
the  other  side,  at  the  blue-coats  approaching  with  bayo- 
nets and  field-pieces. 

"  Okh !  the  hussars  will  catch  it !  "  exclaimed  Nes- 
vitsky.     "They're  within  range  of  grape  now." 

"  It  was  useless  to  send  so  many  men,"  said  the  staff- 
officer. 

"  That 's  a  fact,"  returned  Nesvitsky.  "  If  he  'd  only 
sent  two  smart  young  fellows,  it  would  have  been  just 
as  w^ell." 

"Akh!  your  illustriousness,"  remarked  Zherkof,  not 
taking  his  eyes  from  the  hussars,  but  still  speaking  in 
his  own  peculiar  fashion,  which  left  it  in  doubt  whether 
he  were  serious  or  in  earnest,  "  akh  !  your  illustriousness, 
how  can  you  think  so  !  The  idea  of  sending  two  men  ! 
How  then  would  we  get  the  Vladimir  and  the  ribbon  ? 
Even  if  they  do  have  a  little  thrashing,  there  '11  be  a 
chance  for  the  colonel  to  report  the  squadron  and  get 
a  ribbon  for  himself.  Our  Bogdanuitch  knows  a  thing 
or  two." 

"  Now  there,"  said  the  staff-officer,  "that's  grape!" 
He  pointed  at  the  French  field-pieces,  which  they 
were  unlimbering  and  bringing  into  range. 

In  the  direction  of  the  French,  from  the  groups  which 
had  been  recognized  as  the  artillery,  they  saw  a  puff  of 
smoke  arise,  then  a  second,  a  third,  almost  simultane- 
ously, and  by  the  time  the  report  of  the  first  had  reached 
their  ears,  a  fourth  puff  arose.  Two  reports  one  after 
the  other,  and  then  a  third. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  209 

"  O !  okh  !  "  groaned  Nesvitsky,  as  if  from  excru- 
ciating agony,  and  seizing  the  staff-officer's  arm. 
''  Look,  one  fell,  fell,  one  fell !  " 

''Two,  I  should  think." 

"  If  I  were  Tsar,  there  should  be  no  more  war,"  said 
Nesvitsky,  turning  away. 

The  French  guns  were  again  quickly  loaded.  The 
infantry  in  the  blue  capotes  came  dashing  at  double- 
quick  toward  the  bridge.  Again,  at  different  distances, 
puffs  of  smoke  appeared,  and  the  grape  pattered  and 
rattled  on  the  bridge.  But  this  time  Nesvitsky  could 
not  see  what  took  place  on  it.  A  thick  smoke  poured 
up  from  it.  The  hussars  had  succeeded  in  setting  fire 
to  it,  and  the  French  field-pieces  were  fired  at  it,  not, 
indeed,  to  prevent  it,  but  because  they  were  loaded, 
and  there  was  nothing  else  to  shoot  at. 

The  French  had  succeeded  in  sending  three  charges 
of  grape  before  the  hussars  returned  to  their  grooms. 
Two  of  the  volleys  had  been  wildly  aimed,  and  the 
grape  had  gone  afield,  but  the  last  discharge  struck  into 
the  middle  of  the  group,  and  hit  three  hussars. 

Rostof ,  preoccupied  by  his  relations  with  Bogdanuitch, 
remained  on  the  bridge,  not  knowing  what  he  had  to 
do.  There  was  no  one  to  cut  down  —  he  had  always 
imagined  a  battle  to  consist  of  cutting  down  —  and  he 
could  not  help  set  fire  to  the  bridge  either,  because  he 
had  not  provided  himself  with  wisps  of  straw,  as  the 
others  had.  He  was  standing  there  and  looking  on, 
when  suddenly  there  was  a  rattling  on  the  bridge  as  if 
some  one  had  been  scattering  hazelnuts,  and  one  of  the 
hussars  who  happened  to  be  nearest  to  him  fell  against 
the  parapet  with  a  groan.  Rostof  and  several  others 
ran  to  him.  Again  there  was  a  cry  for  stretchers.  Four 
men  grasped  the  wounded  hussar,  and  started  to  bear 
him  away. 

''  0-0-0-0  !  Let  me  alone  for  Christ's  sake,"  shrieked 
the  wounded  man,  but  nevertheless  they  took  him  up 
and  bore  him  off.  Nikolai  Rostof  turned  away,  and,  as 
if  he  were  searching  for  something,  began  to  gaze  into 
the  distance,  at  the  water  of  the  Danube,  at  the  sky,  at 

VOL.  I.  — 14 


2IO  WAR    AND    PEACE 

the  sun.  How  beautiful  the  sky  seemed,  how  blue,  how 
calm,  how  profound  !  How  bright  and  magnificent  the 
sinking  sun  !  How  caressingly  brilliant  the  waters  of 
the  distant  Danube  gleamed !  And  still  more  lovely 
were  the  far  purpling  mountains  beyond  the  Danube, 
the  nunnery,  the  mysterious  defiles,  the  pine  forests, 
veiled  to  the  top  in  a  transparent  mist.  There  it  was, 
full  of  peace  and  happiness. 

**  I  should  wish  for  nothing,  wish  for  nothing,  for 
nothing  in  the  world,  if  only  I  were  there,"  thought 
Rostof.  "  How  much  happiness  I  might  have  there  in 
this  sunshine,  while  here  —  groans,  suffering,  terror,  and 
confusion  and  hurry.  There  again  some  one  shrieks, 
and  here  we  are  all  running  for  our  lives,  and  I  am  run- 
ning with  the  rest,  and  here  it  is,  here  is  death,  all  above 
me  and  around  me.  A  moment,  and  perhaps  never 
again  shall  I  see  this  sun,  this  river,  those  defiles." 

At  that  instant  the  sun  went  into  a  cloud ;  Rostof 
saw  several  stretchers  being  carried  before  him.  And 
the  terror  of  death  and  of  the  stretchers,  and  love  for 
the  sun  and  for  life,  all  mingled  in  one  painfully  disturb- 
ing impression. 

**  O  Lord  God !  Thou  w^ho  art  there  in  yonder 
heaven,  save,  pardon,  and  defend  me ! "  whispered 
Rostof  in  his  heart. 

The  hussars  hastened  back  to  their  grooms,  their 
voices  grew  louder  and  more  confident ;  the  stretchers 
were  now  out  of  their  sight. 

''Well,  bwother!  so  you've  smelt  powder!"  rang 
Vaska  Denisof's  voice  in  his  ear. 

"  It 's  all  over,  but  I  'm  a  coward,  yes,  I  'm  a  coward," 
thought  Rostof,  and  with  a  heavy  sigh  he  took  the  bridle 
from  the  hands  of  his  groom  and  mounted  his  Grachik, 
which  was  waiting  for  him. 

"  What  was  it,  grape-shot  ? "  asked  he  of  Denisof. 

"That  's  just  what  it  was  !  "  shouted  Denisof.  "We 
worked  like  hewoes.  And  it  was  waskally  work.  A 
charge  is  ware  sport,  you  hew  down  the  dogs;  but  here, 
the  devil  only  knows  what  it  is,  they  shoot  at  you  as  it 
you  were  a  target." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  211 

And  Denisof  rode  off  and  joined  the  colonel,  Nes- 
vitsky,  Zhcrkof,  and  the  staff-officers,  who  were  talking 
together  a  short  distance  from  Rostof. 

"  One  thing  's  evident,  no  one  noticed  it,"  thought 
Rostof.  And  in  truth  no  one  had  noticed  it,  because 
each  and  every  one  shared  in  the  sensation  which  the 
yunker  experienced  at  being  under  fire  for  the  first 
time. 

'*  We  shall  have  a  splendid  report  sent,"  Zherkof  was 
saying.  "  Do  you  know,  they  may  give  me  a  lieuten- 
ancy." 

*'  Inform  the  prince  that  I  burned  the  bridge,"  said  the 
colonel,  with  a  gay  and  triumphant  expression. 

**  But  suppose  it  is  asked  about  our  loss  ? " 

**  A  mere  trifle,"  said  the  colonel,  in  his  deepest  tones ; 
"two  hussars  wounded  and  one  dead,"  said  he,  with 
apparent  joy,  and  scarcely  refraining  from  a  contented 
smile,  as  he  brought  out  with  ringing  emphasis  the 
happy  phrase,  dead} 

CHAPTER   IX 

The  Russian  army  of  thirty-five  thousand  men,  under 
command  of  Kutuzof,  pursued  by  the  French,  a  hundred 
thousand  strong,  under  Bonaparte  himself,  meeting  with 
unfriendly-disposed  natives,  no  longer  having  confidence 
in  their  allies,  suffering  from  a  lack  of  provisions,  and 
obliged  to  act  in  a  manner  opposed  to  all  preconceived 
conditions  of  war,  was  in  hasty  retreat  down  the 
Danube,  halting  when  the  enemy  overtook  them,  and 
fighting  them  off  by  skirmishes  at  the  rear-guard,  but 
fighting  no  more  than  was  necessary  to  insure  their 
retreat  without  losing  any  of  their  baggage. 

Actions  had  taken  place  at  Lambach,  Amstetten,  and 
Melck,  but,  notwithstanding  the  bravery  and  fortitude 
displayed  by  the  Russians,  as  even  their  enemy  acknowl- 
edged, these  actions  did  not  prevent  their  movement 
from  being  a  retreat,  conducted  with  all  possible 
celerity. 

1  Na-poval,  literally :    without  exception,  totally. 


212  WAR   AND    PEACE 

The  Austrians  who  had  escaped  from  the  surrender 
at  Ulm,  and  had  joined -Kutuzof  at  Braunau,  had  now 
separated  from  the  Russians,  and  Kutuzof  was  left  only 
with  his  weakened,  famished  forces. 

It  was  impossible  any  longer  to  think  of  defending 
Vienna.  In  place  of  the  offensive  warfare  so  craftily 
elaborated  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  the  new 
science  of  strategy,  the  plan  of  which  had  been  com- 
municated to  Kutuzof  by  the  Hofkriegsrath  while  he 
was  in  Vienna,  the  only  thing  that  was  left  him  now, 
unless  he  were  to  sacrifice  his  army,  as  Mack  had  sac- 
rificed his  at  Ulm,  was  to  effect  a  juncture  with  the 
troops  on  their  way  from  Russia,  and  even  this  was 
almost  an  impossibility. 

On  the  eighth  of  November,  Kutuzof  and  his  army 
crossed  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Danube,  and,  for  the  first 
time,  halted,  haying  now  put  the  river  between  himself 
and  the  main  body  of  the  French.  On  the  tenth,  he 
attacked  and  defeated  the  division  under  Mortier,  which 
was  stationed  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Danube.  In  this 
engagement,  for  the  first  time,  some  trophies  were  cap- 
tured :  a  stand  of  colors,  cannon,  and  two  of  the  enemy's 
generals.  For  the  first  time,  after  a  fortnight's  retreat, 
the  Russian  army  halted,  and  at  the  end  of  the  battle 
not  only  held  the  field  of  battle,  but  had  driven  off  the 
French. 

Although  the  army  was  exhausted  and  in  rags,  and 
reduced  a  third  by  the  killed,  wounded,  sick,  and 
stragglers ;  although  the  sick  and  wounded  had  been 
left  on  the  other  side  of  the  Danube,  with  a  letter  from 
Kutuzof  commending  them  to  the  magnanimity  of  the 
enemy;  although  the  regular  hospitals  and  the  houses 
of  Krems,  which  had  been  turned  into  lazarettoes,  were 
unable  to  receive  all  the  sick  and  wounded  remaining 
—  still,  in  spite  of  all  this,  the  halt  at  Krems  and  the 
victory  over  Mortier  signally  raised  the  spirits  of  the 
army. 

The  most  gratifying  but  improbable  reports  were  in 
circulation  throughout  the  troops  and  even  at  head- 
quarters,   concerning    imaginary    reinforcements    from. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  213 

Russia  being  at  hand,  concerning  some  great  victory 
won  by  the  Austrians  and  the  retreat  and  panic  of 
Bonaparte. 

During  the  battle,  Prince  Andrei  had  been  near  by 
when  the  Austrian  general,  Schmidt,  was  killed.  His 
own  horse  had  been  wounded  under  him,  and  he  him- 
self had  been  slightly  grazed  by  a  bullet  on  the  hand. 
As  a  sign  of  special  favor  from  the  commander-in-chief, 
he  was  sent  to  carry  the  news  of  this  victory  to  the 
Austrian  court,  which  had  left  Vienna,  now  threatened 
by  the  French,  and  was  established  at  Briinn.  On  the 
evening  of  the  victory.  Prince  Andrei,  excited,  but  not 
weary,  for,  in  spite  of  his  apparently  delicate  constitu- 
tion, he  could  endure  physical  fatigue  far  better  than 
much  stronger  men,  having  brought  Dokhturof's  report 
to  Kutuzof,  was  despatched  that  same  evening  as  a 
special  courier  to  Briinn.  Such  an  errand  insured  the 
courier  not  only  a  decoration,  but  pointed  infallibly  to 
promotion. 

The  night  was  dark,  but  starry ;  the  road  made  a 
black  line  across  the  snow  which  had  been  falling  dur- 
ing the  engagement.  Now  recalling  the  impressions  of 
the  battle  through  which  he  had  passed,  now  joyfully 
imagining  the  impression  which  he  should  cause  by  the 
news  of  the  victory,  recollecting  the  parting  words  of 
the  commander-in-chief  and  his  comrades,  Prince  An- 
drei' drove  on  at  a  furious  pace  in  his  post-carriage, 
experiencing  the  feelings  of  a  man  who  has  long  waited 
and  at  last  is  about  to  attain  his  wished-for  joy.  As 
soon  as  he  closed  his  eyes,  his  ears  were  filled  with  the 
roar  of  musketry  and  cannon,  mingling  with  the  rumble 
of  the  wheels  and  the  details  of  the  victory. 

Now  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  Russians  were  flying, 
and  that  he  himself  was  killed.  But  he  would  awake 
with  a  start,  feeling  a  strange  delight  in  the  realization 
that  nothing  of  the  sort  had  taken  place,  and  that,  on 
the  contrary,  it  was  the  French  who  had  been  defeated. 
Then,  again,  he  would  recall  all  the  details  of  the 
victory,  his  own  serene  manliness  during  the  engage- 
ment, and  his  recollections  would  lull  him  to  sleep  again. 


214  WAR    AND    PEACE 

The  dark,  starry  night  was  followed  by  a  bright,  joy. 
ous  day.  The  snow  gleamed  in  the  sunshine,  the 
horses  sped  swiftly  along,  and  on  both  sides  new  woods, 
fields,  and  villages  in  never  ending  variety  kept  flying 
by. 

At  one  of  the  post-houses  he  overtook  a  train  of 
Russian  wounded.  A  Russian  officer  in  charge  of  the 
convoy  was  stretched  out  in  the  foremost  cart,  and 
shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  and  scolding  the  sol- 
diers in  coarse  language. 

The  long  German  vorspanns,  each  containing  six  or 
more  wounded,  pale  and  bandaged  and  dirty,  jolted 
heavily  along  over  the  rough,  paved  road.  Some  of 
them  were  talking  (Prince  Andrei  overheard  their  Rus- 
sian speech),  others  were  munching  bread,  while  those 
who  were  most  seriously  hurt  gazed  with  the  good- 
natured  and  childish  curiosity  of  sickness  at  the  courier 
hurrying  by  them. 

Prince  Andrei'  ordered  the  driver  to  stop,  and  asked 
one  of  the  soldiers  where  they  had  been  wounded. 

**  Day  before  ycL^terday  on  the  Danube,"  replied  the 
soldier. 

Prince  Andrei  took  out  his  purse  and  gave  the  soldier 
three  gold  pieces. 

'*  For  them  all,"  he  added,  turning  to  the  officer  in 
command.  ''Get  well  as  fast  as  you  can,  boys,"  said  he 
to  the  soldiers,  "there  's  still  much  to  be  done." 

"Well,  Mister  Aide,  what's  the  news.?"  asked  the 
officer,  evidently  taking  a  fancy  to  have  a  talk. 

"  Good  news  !  —  Forward,"  he  cried  to  his  driver,  and 
he  was  borne  swiftly  on. 

It  was  already  quite  dark  when  Prince  Andref 
reached  Briinn  and  found  himself  surrounded  by  lofty 
houses,  lighted  shops,  and  street  lamps,  handsome  car- 
riages rumbling  over  the  wooden  pavements,, and  by  all 
that  atmosphere  of  a  large,  lively  city  which  is  always 
so  fascinating  to  a  soldier  after  camp-life. 

Prince  Andrei,  notwithstanding  the  celerity  of  his 
journey  and  his  sleepless  night,  felt  as  he  drove  up  to 
the  palace  even  more  excited  than  he  had  the  evening 


WAR   AND    PEACE  215 

before.  His  eyes  gleamed  with  a  feverish  light,  and  his 
thoughts  rushed  through  his  mind  with  extraordinary 
rapidity  and  clearness.  Vividly  all  the  details  of  the 
battle  came  into  his  mind,  not  with  any  confusion,  but  in 
due  sequence,  word  for  word,  as  he  imagined  he  should 
render  his  account  to  the  Emperor  Franz. 

Vividly  he  imagined  the  circumstantial  questions  which 
might  be  asked  him,  and  the  answers  which  he  should 
make  to  them.  He  supposed  that  he  should  be  imme- 
diately summoned  before  the  emperor.  But  at  the 
principal  entrance  of  the  palace  he  was  met  by  an 
official  who,  discovering  that  he  was  only  a  courier, 
sent  him  around  to  another  entrance. 

"  Take  the  corridor  at  the  right,  Euer  Hochgeborefty 
there  you  will  find  the  Fliigel-adjutant,  \^ho  is  on  duty," 
said  the  official.  "  He  will  take  you  to  the  minister  of 
war." 

The  Fliigel-adjutant,  coming  to  meet  Prince  AndreY, 
asked  him  to  wait  while  he  went  to  the  minister.  In 
five  minutes  he  returned,  and,  bowing  with  unusual 
deference  and  allowing  Prince  Andrei  to  pass  in  front 
of  him,  directed  him  through  a  corridor  into  a  private 
office  occupied  by  the  minister  of  war.  The  Fliigel- 
adjutant,  by  his  extravagant  politeness,  seemed  to  be 
trying  to  defend  himself  from  any  attempt  at  familiarity 
on  the  part  of  the  Russian  courier.  Prince  Andrew's 
exultant  feeling  was  decidedly  cooled  down  the  moment 
he  entered  the  door  into  the  minister's  private  office. 
He  felt  humiliated,  and  this  feeling  of  wounded  pride 
changed  instantly,  but  imperceptibly,  into  a  feeling  of 
contempt  which  had  no  reasonable  cause.  His  fertile 
mind  at  the  same  moment  began  to  search  for  a  point 
of  view  according  to  which  he  might  be  justified  in 
scorning  both  the  Fliigel-adjutant  ^nd  the  minister  of 
war. 

**  It 's  probably  very  easy  for  them  to  show  how  to 
gain  victories,  though  they  have  never  smelt  gun- 
powder," he  said  to  himself. 

His  eyes  contracted  contemptuously ;  he  walked  into 
the  war  minister's  private  office  with  all  the  deliberation 


2i6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

in  the  world.  The  feeling  was  still  further  intensified 
when  he  caught  sight  of  that  dignitary  sitting  between 
two  candles  at  a  great  table,  and  not  even  glancing  at 
his  visitor  for  the  first  two  minutes. 

The  war  minister's  bald  head  with  its  fringe  of  gray 
hair  was  bent  over  some  papers  which  he  was  reading 
and  marking  with  a  lead-pencil.  He  finished  reading 
them,  not  even  Hfting  his  head  when  the  door  opened 
to  admit  his  visitor,  though  he  must  have  heard  the 
steps. 

''  Take  this  and  deliver  it  at  once,"  said  the  minister 
of  war  to  his  secretary,  handing  him  some  papers,  and 
not  even  yet  recognizing  the  existence  of  the  courier. 

Prince  Andrei  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  out  of  all 
the  affairs  that*  preoccupied  the  minister  of  war,  the 
feats  of  Kutuzof's  army  either  interested  him  the  least, 
or  else  he  felt  obliged  to  give  this  impression  to  the 
Russian  courier.  "  Well,  it 's  all  the  same  to  me,"  said 
he  to  himself. 

The  minister  of  war  assorted  the  rest  of  his  papers, 
placing  them  in  regular  order,  and  then  at  last  lifted  his 
head.  He  had  an  intelligent  and  determined  face,  but 
at  the  instant  that  he  turned  to  Prince  Andrei,  this  in- 
telligent and  firm  expression  seemed  to  change  as  if  by 
purpose  and  consciously,  and  in  its  place  came  a  dull, 
hypocritical  smile,  in  which  there  was  no  pretence  even 
of  hiding  its  hypocrisy,  —  the  habitual  smile  of  a  man 
accustomed  to  receiving  many  petitioners  one  after  the 
other. 

''From  General  Field  Marshal  Kutuzof.?"  he  asked. 
"  I  hope  it  is  good  news.  So  he  's  had  an  encounter 
with  Mortier  }     A  victory  ?     It  was  time  !  " 

He  took  the  despatch  which  was  directed  to  him  and 
began  to  read  it  with  a  melancholy  expression. 

"  Ach,  mein  Gott !  mein  Gott !  Schmidt !  "  said  he,  in 
German.  "  What  a  misfortune  !  what  a  misfortune  !  " 
Having  run  through  the  paper,  he  laid  it  on  the  table 
and  glanced  at  Prince  Andrei,  evidently  weighing  some- 
thing in  his  mind.  "  Ach  !  what  a  misfortune  !  The 
affair,  you    say,  was   decisive  ?     But    Mortier  was   not 


WAR   AND    PEACE  21 


taken."  He  pondered.  "  I  'm  very  glad  that  you  have 
brought  this  good  news,  although  the  death  of  Schmidt 
is  a  costly  price  to  pay  for  the  victory.  His  majesty 
will  probably  desire  to  see  you,  but  not  this  evening.  I 
thank  you;  go  and  get  rested.  To-morrow  be  at  the 
levee  after  the  parade.  However,  I  will  give  you  due 
notice." 

The  dull  smile,  which  had  disappeared  during  this 
conversation,  again  appeared  on  the  war  minister's  face. 

*' Good-by.  Aiif  zviedersehen  —  I  thank  you  very 
much.  His  majesty  the  emperor  will  no  doubt  wish  to 
see  you,"  he  repeated,  and  inclined  his  head. 

When  Prince  Andrei  had  left  the  palace  he  felt  that 
all  the  interest  and  happiness  which  the  victory  had 
brought  him  had  deserted  him,  and  had  been  left 
behind  in  the  indifferent  hands  of  the  war  minister  and 
of  the  polite  Fliigel-adjutant.  The  whole  course  of  his 
thoughts  had  instantly  changed ;  the  battle  seemed  to 
him  like  the  recollection  of  something  that  had  hap- 
pened long  before. 


CHAPTER   X 

Prince  Andrei  put  up  at  Briinn  at  the  residence  of 
his  friend,  the  diplomat  Bilibin. 

*'  Ah !  my  dear  prince,  no  one  could  be  more  wel- 
come," said  Bilibin,  coming  down  to  greet  him.  "  Franz, 
take  the  prince's  luggage  into  my  sleeping-room,"  he 
added,  turning  to  the  valet  that  had  admitted  the  visitor. 
*'  So  you  're  bringing  news  of  a  victory.  Excellent !  But 
I  'm  under  the  weather,  as  you  can  see." 

Prince  Andrei,  having  washed  and  changed  his  dress, 
joined  the  diplomat  in  his  luxurious  study,  and  sat  down 
to  the  dinner  which  had  been  prepared  for  him.  Bilibin 
drew  up- comfortably  before  the  fire. 

After  his  hurried  journey,  and  indeed  after  this  whole 
campaign,  during  which  he  had  been  deprived  of  all  the 
comforts .  and  elegances  of  life.  Prince  Andrei  experi- 
enced a  pleasant  feeling  of  repose  amid  these  luxurious 


2i8  WAR   AND    PEACE 

conditions  of  existence,  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed 
since  childhood.  Moreover,  it  was  pleasant  after  his 
reception  by  the  Austrians  to  talk,  not  indeed  in  Russian, 
for  they  spoke  in  French,  but  with  a  Russian  who,  as 
he  supposed,  shared  the  general  Russian  aversion,  now 
felt  with  especial  keenness,  for  the  Austrians. 

Bilibin  was  a  man  of  thirty-five,  unmarried,  and  be- 
longing to  the  same  set  as  Prince  Andrei.  They  had 
been  acquaintances  long  before  in  Petersburg,  and  had 
become  more  intimate  during  Prince  Andrei's  last  visit 
to  Vienna,  in  company  with  Kutuzof.  Just  as  Prince 
Andrei  was  a  young  man  who  promised  to  make  a  brill- 
iant career  in  the  military  profession,  so  Bilibin,  with 
even  greater  probability,  was  on  the  road  to  success  in 
diplomacy.  He  was  still  a  young  man,  but  he  was  not 
a  young  diplomat,  since  he  had  begun  his  career  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  had  been  in  Paris  and  in  Copenhagen, 
and  now  held  a  very  responsible  post  in  Vienna.  Both 
the  chancellor  and  the  Russian  ambassador  at  the  court 
of  Vienna  knew  him  and  prized  him  highly.  He  was 
not  one  of  those  diplomats  who  are  considered  to  be 
very  good  because  they  have  merely  negative  qualities, 
do  nothing  but  their  perfunctory  duties,  and  are  able  to 
speak  French.  He  was  rather  one  of  those  who  work 
con  amore,  and  with  intelligence ;  notwithstanding  his 
natural  indolence,  he  sometimes  spent  the  whole  night 
at  his  writing-table.  He  put  in  good  work,  no  matter 
what  was  the  nature  of  the  work  in  hand.  It  was  the 
question  ''  how,"  not  the  question  "why,"  that  interested 
him. 

It  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him  what  the  diplo- 
matic business  was  about,  but  he  took  the  greatest 
satisfaction  in  artistically,  accurately,  and  elegantly 
composing  circulars,  memorials,  or  reports. 

Bilibin's  services  were  prized,  not  only  because  of  his 
skill  in  inditing  letters,  but  also  and  still  more  because 
of  his  faculty  for  shining  m  society  and  carrying  on 
conversation  in  the  highest  spheres. 

Bilibin  liked  to  talk  just  as  he  liked  to  work,  but  it 
was  essential  that  the  topic  should  let  him  display  his 


WAR   AND    PEACE  iig 

delicately  polished  wit.  In  society,  he  was  constantly 
on  the  watch  for  a  chance  to  say  something  remarkable, 
and  he  never  mingled  in  conversation  except  under  such 
conditions.  His  talk  was  plentifully  begemmed  with 
keen  and  polished  phrases,  original  with  himself,  and 
yet  having  an  interest  for  all.  These  phrases  were 
prepared  in  Bilibin's  internal  laboratory,  as  a  sort  of 
portable  property  which  even  the  dullest  members  of 
society  might  easily  remember  and  carry  from  drawing- 
room  to  drawing-room.  And,  in  fact,  Bilibin's  witti- 
cisms made  the  rounds  of  the  salons  de  Vienne  —  and 
often  had  an  effect  on  so-called  important  events. 

His  thin,  weary-looking  sallow  face  was  covered  with 
deep  wrinkles,  which  always  seemed  clean  and  par- 
boiled, like  the  ends  of  the  fingers  after  a  bath.  The 
play  of  these  wrinkles  constituted  the  principal  varia- 
tions in  his  expression. 

Now,  it  was  his  forehead  that  was  furrowed  with 
broad  lines  and  his  eyebrows  were  lifted  high ;  again 
his  brows  were  contracted  and  deep  lines  marked  his 
cheeks.  His  deep-set  little  eyes  looked  always  frank 
and  cheerful. 

''  Now,  then,  tell  us  your  exploits,"  said  he. 

Bolkonsky,  in  the  mo.st  modest  manner,  without  once 
referring  to  himself,  told  him  of  the  combat  and  of  the 
ministers'  behavior. 

'*  They  received  me  and  the  news  that  I  brought  like 
a  dog  in  a  game  of  ninepins,"  he  said,  in  conclusion. 

Bilibin  smiled,  and  the  wrinkles  in  his  face  relaxed. 

"■  However,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  he,  "in  spite  of  the 
high  esteem  that  I  profess  for  the  Orthodox  Russian 
army,  I  confess  that  your  victory  is  not  one  of  the  most 
victorious." 

Thus  he  went  on,  all  the  time  speaking  in  French, 
and  introducing  Russian  words  only  when  he  wished  to 
give  them  a  scornful  emphasis. 

''  It  was  this  way,  was  n't  it }  You  fell  with  all  your 
overwhelming  numbers  upon  that  unhappy  Mortier, 
who  had  only  one  division,  and  yet  Mortier  slipped  be- 
tween your  hands  }     Where  was  the  victory  in  that  ?  " 


220  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"  Well,  speaking  seriously,"  replied  Prince  AndreY, 
"  we  can,  at  least,  say  without  boasting  that  it  was 
rather  better  than  Ulm." 

*'Why  didn't  you  take  one,  at  least  one,  marshal 
prisoner?  " 

"  Because  things  are  n't  always  done  as  they  are  fore- 
cast, nor  can  they  be  arranged  with  all  the  regularity  of  a 
parade.  We  expected,  as  I  told  you,  to  turn  their  flank 
at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  we  did  not  succeed 
till  five  in  the  evening." 

**  Why  did  n't  you  succeed  by  seven  in  the  morning.'* 
You  ought  to  have  outflanked  them  by  seven  in  the 
morning,"  said  Bilibin,  smiling,  "you  ought  to  have 
done  it  at  seven  in  the  morning." 

*' Why  did  n't  you  suggest  to  Bonaparte,  through  dip- 
lomatic agency,  that  he'd  better  abandon  Genoa,"  asked 
Prince  Andrei,  in  the  same  tone. 

"  I  know,"  interrupted  Bilibin,  "  as  you  sit  on  your 
sofa  before  the  fire  you  think  that  it  is  very  easy  to  cap- 
ture marshals.  It  is,  indeed,  but  why  did  n't  you  capture 
him  ?  And  don't  be  surprised  that  neither  the  minister 
of  war,  nor  his  most  august  majesty,  the  emperor,  nor 
King  Franz  is  very  grateful  for  your  victory,  and  I 
myself,  the  unfortunate  secretary  of  the  Russian  lega- 
tion, feel  no  special  impulse  to  express  my  delight  by 
giving  my  Franz  a  thaler  and  letting  him  take  his  Lieb- 
chen  for  a  walk  in  the  Prater.  To  be  sure,  there  's  no 
Prater  here  !  " 

He  looked  straight  at  Prince  Andrei,  and  suddenly 
smoothed  out  the  wrinkled  skin  upon  his  forehead. 

"  Now,  my  dear,  it  is  my  turn  to  ask  you  why,"  said 
Bolkonsky.  "  I  assure  you,  I  cannot  understand,  —  per- 
haps there  are  diplomatic  subtleties  here  that  are  above 
my  feeble  mind,  but  I  cannot  understand :  Mack  has 
destroyed  a  whole  army,  the  Archduke  Ferdinand  and 
the  Archduke  Karl  are  giving  no  signs  of  life,  and  are 
making  one  blunder  after  another  ;  finally,  Kutuzof  is 
the  only  one  who  really  gains  a  victory,  destroys  the 
spell  of  the  French,  and  the  minister  of  war  is  n't  inter- 
ested enough  to  inquire  after  the  details  !  " 


WAR   AND    PEACE  221 

*'  This  is  the  very  reason,  my  dear.  You  see,  my 
dear  fellow  !  hurrah  for  the  Tsar  !  for  Russia,  the  faith ! 
all  that's  very  well  and  good!  but  what  do  we,  I  mean 
the  Austrain  Court,  care  for  your  victories !  Only  bring 
them  your  fine  news  about  a  victory  won  by  the  Arch- 
duke Karl,  or  Ferdinand,  —  one  archduke  is  as  good  as 
another, — as  you  know  well,  a  victory,  even  though  it 
were  only  over  a  squad  of  Bonaparte's  firemen,  and 
that  would  be  another  thing;  we  should  proclaim  it  with 
the  thunder  of  cannon.  But  this,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
can  only  vex  us.  The  Archduke  Karl  is  doing  nothing, 
the  Archduke  Ferdinand  covers  himself  with  disgrace ! 
You  desert  Vienna,  you  no  longer  defend  it,  as  if  you 
said,  *  God  is  with  us,  may  God  be  with  you  and  your 
capital.'  One  general,  whom  we  all  loved,  Schmidt, 
you  allowed  to  be  killed  by  a  bullet,  and  you  congratu- 
late us  on  the  victory !  Confess  that  nothing  could  be 
imagined  more  exasperating  than  this  news  that  you 
bring.  It  seems  as  if  it  were  all  cut  and  dried,  cut  and 
dried.  Moreover,  even  if  you  had  won  the  most  brill- 
iant victory,  even  if  the  Archduke  Karl  should,  what 
change  would  that  make  in  the  course  of  events  .?  It 's 
too  late  now,  for  Vienna  has  been  occupied  by  the 
French  army." 

"What,  occupied!     Vienna  occupied  !  " 

"  Not  only  occupied,  but  Bonaparte  is  at  Schonbrunn, 
and  the  count,  our  dear  friend,  Count  Vrbna,  has  gone 
there  to  him  for  orders." 

Bolkonsky,  after  his  fatigue  and  the  impressions  of 
his  journey,  and  his  reception,  and  especially  since  his 
dinner,  felt  that  he  did  not  grasp  the  full  meaning  of  the 
words  which  he  heard, 

"  This  morning.  Count  Lichtenfels  was  here,"  con- 
tinued Bilibin,  "  and  showed  me  a  letter  containing  a 
circumstantial  account  of  the  parade  of  the  French  in 
Vienna.  Le  Prince  Miirat  et  tout  le  tremblement ....  you 
can  see  that  your  victory  is  not  such  an  immense  delight, 
and  you  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  our  saviors." 

*'  Truly,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  it  is  a  matter  of  in- 
difference,   absolute  indifference,"  said  Prince  Andrei, 


Qii  WAR   AND    PEACE 

beginning  to  comprehend  that  his  tidings  about  the  en- 
gagement at  Krems  was  of  really  little  importance  com- 
pared with  such  an  event  as  the  occupation  of  the 
Austrian  capital.  "  How  came  Vienna  to  be  occupied  ? 
How  about  the  bridge  and  that  famous  tete  de pout,  and 
Prince  Auersperg  ?  It  was  reported  among  us  that 
Prince  Auersperg  was  defending  Vienna,"  said  he. 

''  Prince  Auersperg  is  on  this  side,  on  our  side  of  the 
Danube,  and  will  defend  us,  defend  us  very  wretchedly, 
I  think,  but  still,  he  will  defend  us.  And  Vienna  is  on 
the  other  side.  No,  the  bridge  is  not  taken  yet,  and  I 
hope  it  will  not  be.  It  has  been  mined,  and  the  order 
is  to  blow  it  up.  If  it  were  not  for  that,  we  should 
have  been  long  ago  in  the  mountains  of  Bohemia,  and 
you  and  your  army  would  have  spent  a  wretched  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  between  two  fires." 

"  But  still  this  does  not  mean  that  the  campaign  is  at 
an  end,  does  it.-^  "  asked  Prince  Andrei. 

''Well,  it's  my  impression  that  it  is.  And  so  think 
the  bigwigs  here,  but  they  dare  not  say  so.  What  I 
said  at  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  will  come  true  : 
that  your  skirmish  near  Diirenstein  will  not  settle  the 
affair,  nor  gunpowder,  in  any  case,  but  those  who  con- 
trived it,"  said  Bilibin,  repeating  one  of  his  mots^  while 
he  puckered  his  forehead  and  paused  a  moment.  "The 
question  simply  depends  on  this  :  What  is  to  be  the  out- 
come of  the  meeting  of  the  emperor  with  the  Prussian 
king  at  Berlin  .''  If  Prussia  joins  the  alliance,  Austria's 
hand  is  forced  —  and  there  will  be  war.  But  if  not, 
then  all  they  have  to  do  is  arrange  for  the  preliminaries 
of  a  second  Campo  Formio." 

"  But  what  an  extraordinary  genius,"  suddenly  cried 
Prince  Andrei',  doubling  his  small  fist  and  pounding  the 
table  with  it.     "  And  what  luck  that  man  has  !  " 

"  Who }  Buonaparte  .?  "  queried  Bilibin,  knitting  his 
brow,  and  thereby  signifying  that  he  was  going  to  get 
off  a  witticism.  "  Buonaparte,"  he  repeated,  laying  a 
special  emphasis  on  the  ?/,  "  I  certainly  think  that  now 
when  he  is  laying  down  the  laws  for  Austria  from 
Schonbrunn,  he  must  be  spared  that  u I  am  firmly 


WAR   AND    PEACE  223 

resolved  to  make  the  innovation,  and  I  shall  call  him 
Bonaparte." 

''No,  but  joking  aside,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  "is  it 
possible  that  you  think  the  campaign  is  finished  ? " 

"This  is  what  I  think:  Austria  has  been  made  a  fool 
of  and  she  is  not  used  to  that.  And  she  will  take  her 
revenge.  And  she  has  been  made  a  fool  of  because  in 
the  first  place  her  provinces  have  been  pillaged  (it  is 
said  the  Orthodox  are  terrible  pillagers),  her  army  is 
beaten,  her  capital  is  taken,  and  all  this  on  account  of 
the  handsome  eyes  on  the  Sardinian  throne.  And  in  the 
second  place,  between  us,  my  dear,  I  suspect  that  we 
are  being  duped,  I  suspect  dealings  with  France,  and  a 
project  of  peace,  a  secret  peace,  separately  concluded." 

"That  cannot  be,"  said  Prince  Andrei;  "that  would 
be  too  base." 

"  Qjii  vivi'a,  verra,  you  will  see,"  said  Bilibin,  scowl- 
ing, this  time  in  a  way  which  signified  that  the  conver- 
sation was  at  an  end. 

When  Prince  Andrei  went  to  the  chamber  that  had 
been  prepared  for  him,  and  stretched  himself  between 
clean  sheets  on  a  soft  down  mattress,  and  on  warm  per- 
fumed pillows,  he  felt  that  the  battle,  the  report  of 
which  he  had  brought,  was  far,  far  away.  The  Prus- 
sian alliance,  the  treachery  of  Austria,  Bonaparte's  new 
triumph,  the  parade  and  levee,  and  his  reception  by 
the  Emperor  Franz  the  next  day,  filled  his  mind. 

He  closed  his  eyes,  but  instantly  his  ears  were 
deafened  by  the  cannonading,  the  musketry,  the  rumble 
of  the  carriage-wheels,  and  now  once  more  the  mus- 
keteers came  marching  in  scattered  lines  down  the  hill- 
side, and  the  Frenchmen  were  firing,  and  he  felt  how 
his  heart  thrilled,  and  he  galloped  on  ahead,  with 
Schmidt  at  his  side,  and  the  bullets  whistled  merrily 
around  him,  and  he  experienced  such  a  feeling  of  inten- 
sified delight  in  life  as  he  had  not  felt  since  childhood. 
He  awoke  with  a  start 

"  Yes,  it  was  all  so  ! "  said  he,  smiling  to  himself,  a 
happy,  childlike  smile,  and  he  fell  asleep  with  the  sound 
sleep  of  youth.       _- 


224  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   XI 

He  awoke  the  next  morning,  late.  Recalling  the 
impressions  of  the  previous  day,  he  remembered,  first 
of  all,  that  he  was  to  be  presented  that  day  to  the  Em- 
peror Franz,  he  remembered  the  minister  of  war,  the 
officiously  polite  Fliigel-adjutant,  Bilibin,  and  the  con- 
versation of  the  evening  before. 

Putting  on  his  full-dress  uniform,  which  he  had  not 
worn  for  a  long  time,  to  go  to  court,  he  went  down  to 
Bilibin's  private  room.  His  hand  was  bandaged,  but  he 
was  fresh,  full  of  spirits,  and  handsome.  Four  young 
gentlemen  connected  with  the  diplomatic  corps  were 
gathered  in  the  cabinet.  Bolkonsky  was  already  ac- 
quainted with  Prince  Ippolit  Kuragin,  who  was  secretary 
of  the  legation  ;  Bilibin  introduced  him  to  the  others. 

The  gentlemen  at  Bilibin's  were  gay,  rich  young 
men  of  fashion,  who  formed,  both  in  Vienna  and  here 
in  Briinn,  an  exclusive  circle,  which  Bilibin,  the  leader 
of  it,  called  *'ours,"  les  notres.  This  clique,  composed 
almost  exclusively  of  diplomats,  were  occupied  with  the 
doings  of  society,  their  relations  to  certain  women,  and 
their  duties  as  secretaries ;  war  and  diplomacy  did  not 
much  concern  them.  The  gentlemen  apparently  took 
to  Prince  Andrei,  and  adopted  him  as  one  of  them- 
selves —  an  honor  which  they  did  not  confer  upon  every 
one. 

From  politeness,  and  as  a  topic  for  beginning  con- 
versation, they  asked  him  a  few  questions  about  the 
army  and  the  battle,  and  then  conversation  quickly 
drifted  into  inconsequential  but  jovial  sallies  of  wit  and 
gossip. 

**  But  this  is  especially  good,"  said  one,  relating  the 
misfortunes  of  a  colleague.  "  Especially  good,  when 
the  chancellor  himself  told  him  to  his  face  that  his 
transfer  to  London  was  a  promotion,  and  that  he  was  so 
to  regard  it.  Can  you  imagine  his  looks  at  hearing 
that.?".... 

"  But  what  is  worse  than  all,  gentlemen,  I  must  ex;- 


WAR    AND    PEACE  215 

pose  Kuragin  :  a  man  is  in  trouble,  and  this  Don  Juan, 
this  terrible  man,  must  needs  take  advantage  of  it ! '' 

Prince  Ippolit  was  stretched  out  in  a  Voltaire  chair, 
with  his  legs  thrown  over  the  arm.     He  laughed:  — 

''Tell  me  about  it,"  said  he. 

"  Oh,  you  Don  Juan  !  "  —  "  Oh,  you  snake  !  "  said  vari- 
ous voices. 

"  You  don't  know,  Bolkon-sky,"  said  Bilibin,  turning 
to  Prince  Andrei,  "that  all  the  atrocities  committed  by 
the  French  army  (I  almost  said  the  Russian  army)  are 
nothing  in  comparison  with  what  this  man  has  been 
doing  among  the  ladies  !  " 

"Woman  is  man's  helpmeet,"  said  Prince  Ippolit, 
sententiously,  and  he  began  to  stare  through  his  lor- 
gnette at  his  elevated  feet. 

Bilibin  and  "  our  fellows  "  roared,  as  they  looked  at 
Prince  Ippolit.  Prince  Andrei  saw  that  this  young  man, 
of  whom  (it  must  be  confessed)  he  had  almost  been 
jealous,  was  the  butt  for  this  circle. 

"  I  must  give  you  a  little  sport  with  Kuragin,"  whis 
pered  Bilibin  to  Bolkonsky.  "  It 's  rich  to  hear  him  talk 
about  politics !  You  must  see  what  an  important  air  he 
assumes." 

He  took  a  seat  near  Ippolit  and,  wrinkling  his  brows 
portentously,  began  to  draw  him  into  a  conversation  on 
political  affairs. 

Prince  AndreY  and  the  others  gathered  around  the 
two. 

"  The  cabinet  of  Berlin  cannot  express  any  thought 
of  an  alliance,"  began  Ippolit,  looking  significantly  from 
one  to  another,  "without  expressing ....  as  in  its  last 
note  ....  vous  compi'e7tez  ....  voiis  compreiiez ....  and  then  if 
his  majesty  the  emperor  does  not  go  back  on  his  prin- 
ciples, our  alliance....  Wait,  I  have  not  finished,"  said 
he  to  Prince  Andref,  seizing  him  by  the  arm,  "  I  suppose 
that  intervention  will  be  stronger  than  non-intervention, 
and...."  He  was  silent  for  a  moment,  —  "the  non- 
receipt  of  our  despatch  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  Novem- 
ber cannot  be  charged  as  intentional.  That  is  the  way 
it  will  all  end." 

VOL.  I. —  IS 


226  WAR   AND    PEACH 

And  he  let  go  of  Bolkonsky's  arm,  signifying  that 
now.  he  was  entirely  done. 

"  Demosthenes,  I  recognize  thee  by  the  pebble  which 
thou  hast  concealed  in  thy  golden  mouth,"  said  Bilibin, 
his  cap  of  hair  moving  on  his  head  with  satisfaction. 

All  laughed.  Ippolit  laughed  louder  than  the  rest. 
It  evidently  hurt  him ;  he  choked  but  he  was  unable  to 
refrain  from  the  laugh  that  distorted  his  usually  impas- 
sive face. 

"  Now,  then,  gentlemen,"  said  Bilibin,  "  Bolkonsky  is 
a  guest  at  my  house  here  in  Briinn,  and  I  am  anxious 
to  treat  him  well  and  give  him  a  taste  of  all  of  our 
pleasures  here  so  far  as  possible.  If  we  were  in  Vienna 
this  would  be  easy,  but  here  —  in  this  beastly  Moravian 
hole  -—  it  will  be  harder,  and  I  beg  you  all  to  lend  me 
your  aid.  We  must  do  him  the  honors  of  Briinn.  You 
undertake  the  theatres ;  I  will  introduce  him  to  soci- 
ety; you,  Ippolit,  of  course,  the  ladies." 

"  You  must  show  him  Amelie,  she  's  a  beauty  !  "  said 
one  of  the  circle,  kissing  the  ends  of  his  fingers. 

"All  in  all,  this  bloodthirsty  soldier,"  said  Bilibin, 
*'  must  be  brought  to  more  humane  views." 

''  It  is  doubtful  if  I  can  take  advantage  of  your  hos- 
pitality, gentlemen,  for  now  it  is  time  for  me  to  go  out," 
said  Bolkonsky,  looking  at  his  watch. 

"Where?" 

"To  the  emperor." 

'^Oh!  — oh!  — oh!" 

"  Well,  ail  revoir,  Bolkonsky.  Good-by,  prince ;  come 
back  to  dinner  as  early  as  you  can,"  shouted  several 
voices.     "We  will  look  out  for  you." 

"  Try  to  say  as  much  as  you  can  in  praise  of  the  com- 
missariat and  the  roads,  when  you  speak  to  the  em- 
peror," said  Bilibin,  as  he  accompanied  Bolkonsky  into 
the  entry. 

"  I  wish  I  could  say  flattering  things,  but  I  cannot," 
said  Bolkonsky,  with  a  smile. 

"  Well,  then,  do  just  as  much  of  the  talking  as  you  can. 
His  passion  is  for  audiences,  but  he  does  not  like  to  talk, 
and  he  does  not  know  how,  as  you  will  see  for  yourself  " 


WAR   AND    PEACE  227 


CHAPTER   XII 

At  the  levee,  Prince  Andrei',  who  stood  in  the  place 
appointed  among  the  Austrian  officers,  merely  received 
a  long  fixed  stare  from  the  Emperor  Franz,  and  a  slight 
incUnation  of  his  long  head.  But,  after  the  levee,  the 
Flugel-adjutant  of  the  evening  before  politely  com- 
municated to  Bolkonsky  the  emperor's  desire  to  give 
him  an  audience.  The  Emperor  Franz  received  him 
standing  in  the  middle  of  his  room.  Before  beginning 
the  conversation,  Prince  Andrei  was  struck  by  the  evi- 
dent confusion  of  the  emperor,  who  reddened  and  did 
not  know  what  to  say. 

"  Tell  me  when  the  action  began,"  he  asked  hurriedly. 

Prince  Andrei  told  him. 

This  question  was  followed  by  others,  no  less  simple :  — 

"  Is  Kutuzof  well .?  How  long  ago  did  he  leave  Krems } " 
and  so  on. 

The  emperor  spoke  as  if  his  whole  aim  were  to  ask 
a  certain  number  of  questions.  The  answers  to  these 
questions,  as  he  made  only  too  evident,  did  not  interest 
him. 

"  At  what  hour  did  the  engagement  begin .? "  asked 
the  emperor. 

"  I  cannot  tell,  your  majesty,  at  what  hour  the  fighting 
began  on  the  front,  but  at  Diirenstein,  where  I  happened 
to  be,  the  army  made  the  first,  attack  at  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening,"  said  Bolkonsky,  eagerly,  for  he  supposed 
that  now  he  had  a  chance  to  enter  into  the  carefully 
prepared  and  accurate  description  of  all  that  he  had 
seen  and  knew.  But  the  emperor  smiled  and  interrupted 
him  :-- 

''  How  many  miles  is  it.''  " 

"  From  where  and  to  where,  your  majesty  ? " 

**  From  Diirenstein  to  Krems  ?  " 

''Three  miles  and  a  half,  your  majesty." 

"  Have  the  French  abandoned  the  left  bank  ?  " 

*'  According  to  the  reports  of  our  scouts,  the  last  of 
them  crossed  that  same  night  on  rafts." 


228  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"  Plenty  of  provender  at  Krems  ?  " 

"Provender  was  not  furnished  in  that  abundance 
which ....  " 

But  the  emperor  interrupted  him  :  — 

'•  At  what  hour  was  General  Schmidt  killed  ?  " 

**  At  seven  o'clock,  I  should  think."  .... 

"  At  seven  o'clock  !     Very  sad  !  very  sad  !  " 

Then  the  emperor  thanked  him  and  made  him  a  bow. 
Prince  Andrei  left  the  audience  chamber  and  was  im- 
mediately surrounded  by  courtiers  coming  from  all  sides. 
From  all  sides  flattering  glances  rested  on  him  and  flat- 
tering words  were  heard  around  him.  The  Flijgel-adju- 
tant  reproached  him  for  not  having  put  up  at  the  palace 
and  offered  him  the  use  of  his  rooms.  The  minister  of 
war  came  and  congratulated  him  on  having  received 
the  order  of  Maria  Theresa  of  the  third  degree,  which 
the  emperor  had  conferred  upon  him.  The  empress's 
chamberlain  invited  him  to  wait  upon  her  majesty.  The 
grand  duchess  also  desired  to  see  him.  He  did  not 
know  wbom  to  answer  first,  and  it  took  him  several  sec- 
onds to  collect  his  wits.  The  Russian  ambassador  put 
his  hand  on  his  shoulder,  drew  him  into  a  window,  and 
began  to  talk  with  him. 

In  spite  of  Bilibin's  prognostications,  the  news 
broiight  by  Bolkonsky  was  joyfully  hailed.  A  thanks- 
giving Te  Deum  was  ordained,  Kutuzof  was  decorated 
with  the  grand  cross  of  Maria  Theresa,  and  all  the  army 
was  rewarded.  Bolkonsky  was  overwhelmed  with  invi- 
tations, and  was  obliged  to  spend  the  whole  morning  in 
making  calls  upon  the  principal  dignitaries  of  Austria. 

Having  finished  his  calls,  about  five  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon  Prince  Andrei,  thinking  over  what  he  should 
write  his  father  about  the  engagement  and  his  visit  to 
Brunn,  returned  to  Bilibin's  lodgings.  At  the  door  of 
the  house  occupied  by  Bilibin  stood  a  britzska  half  full 
of  luggage,  and  Franz,  Bilibin's  valet,  was  just  coming 
out,  laboriously  dragging  another  trunk. 

On  his  way  back  to  Bilibin's,  Prince  Andrei*  had 
stepped  into  a  bookstall,  to  lay  in  a  store  of  books  for 
his  campaign,  and  had  spent  some  time  there. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  229 

"  What  does  this  mean  ?  "  asked  Bolkonsky. 

''Alas!  your  excellency!"  said  Franz,  with  difficulty 
tumbling  the  trunk  into  the  britzska,  ''  we  're  going 
farther  off.     The  rascal  is  after  us  again." 

''  What  do  you  say  }  tell  me  !  "  asked  Prince  Andrei". 
Bilibin  came  out  to  meet  Bolkonsky.  His  usually  tran- 
quil face  showed  traces  of  excitement. 

"Well,  well,  confess  that  it's  delightful,"  said  he, 
''this  story  of  the  Thabor  bridge  [the  bridge  at  Vienna]. 
They  crossed  it  without  meeting  any  resistance  !  " 

Prince  Andrei  still  failed  to  understand.  "Where 
have  you  been  that  you  don't  know  what  every  coach- 
man in  the  city  has  heard  long  since." 

"I  have  just  come  from  the  grand  duchess's.  I 
heard  nothing  of  it  there."  ^ 

"And  haven't  you  noticed  that  everywhere  they  re 

packing  up  .?  "  ■,,,„,     1 

"No,  I  haven't.  But  what  is  the  trouble?  asked 
Prince  Andrei,  impatiently. 

"What  is  the  trouble.?  The  trouble  is  that  the 
French  have  crossed  the  bridge  which  Auersperg  was 
defending,  and  the  bridge  was  not  blown  up,  so  that 
Murat  is  now  hastening  down  the  road  to  Briinn,  and 
they  will  be  here  to-day  or  to-morrow." 

"  Be  here .?  But  why  was  the  bridge  not  blown  up, 
when  it  was  mined  }  " 

"Well,  that's  what  I  ask  you.  No  one,  not  even 
Bonaparte,  knows  that." 

Bolkonsky  shrugged  his  shoulders. 
"  But  if  the  bridge  is  crossed,  the  army  is  destroyed ; 
of  course  it  will  be  cut  off,"  said  he. 

"That's  the  joke  of  the  thing,"  rejoined  Bilibin. 
"  Listen  !  The  French  enter  Vienna,  just  as  I  told 
you.  All  very  good.  On  the  next  day,  —  that  is  yes- 
terday, —  Messrs.  Marshals  Murat,  Lannes,  and  Belliard 
mount' their  horses  and  ride  down  to  the  bridge  (notice, 
all  three  of  them  are  Gascons).  '  Gentlemen,'  says  one 
of  them,  '  you  know  that  the  Thabor  bridge  is  mined 
and  countermined,  and  that  in  front  of  it  is  a  terrible 
teU  de  pont  and  fifteen  thousand  men,  who  are  com- 


ajo  WAR   AND    PEACE 

inanded  to  blow  up  the  bridge  and  not  allow  us  to 
pass.  But  our  master,  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  would 
be  pleased  if  we  took  that  bridge.  Let  us  three  go 
therefore  and  take  that  bridge.'  'Yes,  let  us  go,'  say 
the  others,  and  they  go  to  it  and  take  it  and  cross  it, 
and  now  they  are  on  this  side  of  the  Danube  with 
their  whole  army,  and  are  in  full  march  against  us 
and  against  your  communications." 

"A  truce  to  jesting,"  said  Prince  Andrei",  in  a  mel- 
ancholy and  serious  tone.  This  news  was  sad,  and  at 
the  same  time  pleasant  to  him.  As  soon  as  he  knew 
that  the  Russian  army  was  in  such  a  hopeless  situation, 
it  occurred  to  him  that  he  himself  was  the  one  called 
upon  to  rescue  it  from  this  situation,  —  that  this  was 
his  Toulon,  destined  to  lift  him  from  the  throng  of 
insignificant  officers  and  open  to  him  the  straight  path 
of  glory !  Even  while  he  was  listening  to  Bilibin,  he 
was  picturing  himself  going  back  to  the  army,  and 
there,  in  a  council  of  war,  proposing  a  plan  which  alone 
might  save  them,  and  that  to  him  alone  it  was  granted 
to  accomplish  this  plan. 

"A  truce  to  jesting,"  said  he. 

"I  am  not  jesting,"  insisted  Bilibin.  "Nothing  is 
more  veracious  or  more  melancholy.  These  gentlemen 
ride  on  the  bridge  without  escort,  displaying  their  white 
handkerchiefs;  they  assert  that  there  is  an  armistice, 
and  that  they,  the  marshals,  have  come  over  to  talk  with 
Prince  Auersperg.  The  officer  on  guard  lets  them  into 
the  tete  de  pout.  They  give  him  a  thousand  choice 
specimens  of  gasconade ;  they  say  that  the  war  is 
ended,  that  the  Emperor  Franz  has  decided  on  a  con- 
ference with  Bonaparte,  that  they  wanted  to  see  Prince 
Auersperg,  and  a  thousand  other  trumpery  lies.  The 
officer  sends  for  Auersperg ;  these  gentlemen  embrace 
the  officers,  jest,  sit  astride  the  cannon,  and  meantime  a 
French  battalion  quietly  crosses  the  bridge  and  flings 
the  bags  with  the  combustibles  into  the  water,  and 
enters  the  tete  de  pojit.  At  last  the  lieutenant-general, 
our  dear  Prince  Auersperg  von  Mautern  himself,  ap- 
pears on  the  scene.     '  Our  dear  enemy  !     Flower  of  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  231 

Austrian  army,  hero  of  the  Turkish  wars !  Our  enmity 
is  at  an  end,  we  can  shake  hands.  The  Emperor  Napo- 
leon is  dying  with  anxiety  to  make  the  acquaintance  of 
Prince  Auersperg ! ' 

**  In  one  word,  these  gentlemen,  who  are  not  Gascons 
for  nothing,  so  bejuggle  Auersperg  with  fine  words,  he 
is  so  ravished  by  this  rapidly  instituted  intimacy  with 
the  French  marshals,  so  dazzled  by  the  sight  of  Murat's 
mantle  and  ostrich  feathers,  that  he  doesn't  see  the 
point,  and  quite  forgets  what  he  himself  ought  to  be 
pointing  at  the  enemy."  ^ 

Notwithstanding  the  vehemence  of  his  remarks,  Bili- 
bin  did  not  fail  to  pause  after  this  pun,  so  as  to  allow 
Bolkonsky  time  to  appreciate  it. 

"  The  French  battalions  run  into  the  tete  de  pont, 
spike  the  cannon,  the  bridge  is  theirs !  But  this  is  best 
of  all,"  he  went  on  to  say,  allowing  the  fascination  of 
his  narrative  to  keep  him  calm,  "this, — that  the  ser- 
geant who  had  charge  of  the  cannon,  the  discharge  of 
which  was  to  explode  the  mines  and  blow  up  the  bridge, 
this  sergeant,  I  say,  seeing  the  French  soldiers  running 
over  the  bridge,  was  just  going  to  fire  his  gun,  but 
Lannes  pulled  away  his  hand.  The  sergeant,  who  evi- 
dently had  more  sense  than  his  general,  hastens  to 
Auersperg  and  says,  *  Prince,  you  are  imposed  upon, 
here  are  the  French  ! ' 

"  Murat  sees  that  their  game  is  played  if  the  sergeant 
is  allowed  to  speak  further.  With  pretended  surprise 
(true  Gascon  that  he  is)  he  turns  to  Auersperg :  *  I  don't 
see  in  this  anything  of  your  world-renowned  Austrian 
discipline,'  says  he.  *  Do  you  allow  a  man  of  inferior 
rank  to  speak  to  you  so .'' '  It  was  a  stroke  of  genius. 
Prince  Auersperg  prides  himself  on  punctilio  and  has 
the  sergeant  put  under  arrest.  But  you  must  confess 
that  all  this  story  of  the  Thabor  bridge  is  perfectly 
delightful,     it  was  neither  stupidity  nor  cowardice."  .... 

"  Perhaps  it  is  treason,  though,"  said  Prince  Andrelf, 

^  QuHl  n''y  voit  que  du  feu,  et  oublie  celui  quHl  devait  faire  /aire  sur 
tennemi.  The  French  pun  turns  on  the  idiom  jie  voir  que  dufeu,  to  be 
dazzled,  not  to  understand  ;   h\xi  feu  means  tire. 


232  WAR   AND    PEACE 

his  imagination  vividly  bringing  up  before  him  the  gray 
cloaks,  the  wounds,  the  gunpowder  smoke,  the  sounds 
of  battle,  and  the  glory  which  was  awaiting  him. 

*'  Not  at  all.  This  puts  the  court  in  a  most  stupid 
position,"  continued  Bilibin;  "it  is  neither  treason  nor 
cowardice  nor  stupidity,  it 's  just  the  same  as  at  Ulm." 
He  paused,  as  if  trying  to  find  a  suitable  expression : 
**  C  'est  —  cest  du  Mack.  Nous  sommes  Mack^s  —  we  are 
Hacked  ! "  he  said,  at  last  satisfied  that  he  had  coined 
un  mot,  and  a  brilliant  mot,  such  an  one  as  would  be 
repeated.  The  wrinkles  that  had  been  deeply  gathering 
on  his  forehead  quickly  smoothed  themselves  out,  in 
token  of  his  contentment,  and  with  a  sHght  smile  on  his 
lips,  he  began  to  contemplate  his  finger-nails. 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  he  asked,  suddenly  turning 
to  Prince  Andrei',  who  had  got  up  and  was  starting  for 
his  chamber. 

'•'  I  'm  off." 

"Where.?" 

"  To  the  army  !  " 

*'  But  you  intended  to  stop  two  days  longer,  didn  *t 
you .?  " 

"Yes,  but  now  I  'm  going  immediately." 

And  Prince  Andrei,  having  given  his  orders  for  the 
carriage,  went  to  his  room. 

"  Do  you  know,  my  dear  fellow }  "  said  Bilibin,  com- 
ing into  his  room,  "  do  you  know,  I  have  been  thinking 
about  you.  —  Why  are  you  going }  " 

And  in  testimony  of  the  irrefragability  of  his  argu-. 
ment  against  it,  all  the  wrinkles  vanished  from  his  face. 

Prince  Andrei  looked  inquiringly  at  his  friend,  and 
made  no  reply. 

"  Why  are  you  going  'i  —  I  know ;  you  think  that  it  is 
your  duty  to  hurry  back  to  the  army,  now,  when  it  is 
in  danger.  I  understand  it,  my  dear ;  it  is  heroism  in 
you !  " 

"Not  at  all,"  said  Prince  AndreL 

"  But  you  are  a  philosopher ;  be  one  absolutely  ;  look 
at  things  from  the  other  side,  and  you  will  see  that  your 
duty,  on  the  contrary,  is  to  preserve  yourself.     Leave 


WAR   AND    PEACE  233 

this  to  others  who  are  not  fit  for  anything  else You 

have  had  no  orders  to  return,  and  you  won't  be  allowed 
to  go  from  here,  so  of  course  you  can  stay,  and  go  with 
us  wherever  our  unhappy  lot  carries  us.  They  say  we 
are  going  to  Olmiitz.  Now  Olmiitz  is  a  very  nice  little 
city.  And  you  and  I  can  make  the  journey  very  com- 
fortably in  my  calash." 

**  Cease  your  jesting,  Bilibin,"  said  Bolkonsky. 

"  I  am  speaking  to  you  sincerely,  and  as  your  friend. 
Judge  for  yourself.  Where,  and  for  what  purpose,  are 
you  going  now,  when  you  can  remain  here  ?  One  of 
two  things  will  happen  to  you,"  —  here  he  managed  to 
gather  a  fold  of  wrinkles  over  his  left  temple,  —  *'  either 
peace  will  be  concluded  before  you  reach  the  army,  or 
else  defeat  and  disgrace  await  you  with  all  of  Kutuzof's 
force." 

And  Bilibin  smoothed  the  skin  again,  feeling  that  the 
dilemma  was  unavoidable. 

''  Of  that  I  cannot  judge,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  coldly; 
but  he  thought  in  his  own  mind,  *'  I  am  going  to  save 
the  army." 

"  My  dear,  you  are  a  hero !  "  said  Bilibin. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

That  same  night,  having  taken  his  leave  of  the  min- 
ister of  war,  Bolkonsky  set  out  for  the  army,  not  know- 
ing where  he  should  find  it,  and  fearing  lest  he  should 
be  captured  by  the  French,  on  the  road  to  Krems. 

At  Briinn  all  the  court  were  engaged  in  packing, 
and  the  heavy  luggage  had  already  been  despatched  to 
Olmiitz. 

Near  Etzelsdorf  Prince  Andrei  struck  the  highway  over 
which  the  Russian  army  was  moving  in  the  greatest  haste 
and  the  greatest  disorder.  The  road  was  so  encumbered 
with  teams  that  it  was  impossible  for  a  carriage  to  make  its 
way  along.  Having  secured  from  the  head  of  the  Cos- 
sack division  a  horse  and  Cossack,  Prince  Andrei,  hungry 
and  tired,  managed  to  get  past  the  teams,  and  at  last 


234  WAR    AND    PEACE 

drove  on  in  search  of  the  commander-in-chief  and  his 
own  train.  The  most  ominous  reports  of  the  condition 
of  the  army  had  reached  him  on  his  way,  and  these 
reports  were  confirmed  by  the  sight  of  the  army  hurry- 
ing on  in  disorder. 

''  This  Russian  army,  which  EngHsh  gold  has  brought 
together  from  the  ends  of  the  universe,  we  shall  make 
it  suffer  the  same  fate  (the  fate  of  Ulm)." 

Bolkonsky  remembered  these  words  from  Bonaparte's 
general  orders  to  his  army  at  the  beginning  of  the  cam- 
paign, and  these  words  inspired  in  him  an  admiration 
for  the  genius  of  his  hero,  together  with  a  sense  of 
wounded  pride  and  a  hope  of  glory. 

"  But  suppose  nothing  be  left  me  but  to  die !  "  he  said 
to  himself.  *'  Well,  then,  be  it  so,  if  it  is  necessary.  I 
shall  not  die  more  shamefully  than  others." 

Prince  Andrei'  looked  contemptuously  at  the  endless 
confusion  of  detachments,  baggage-wagons,  field-pieces, 
and  gun-carriages,  and  again  baggage-wagons,  baggage- 
wagons,  baggage-wagons,  of  every  possible  description, 
trying  to  outstrip  one  another,  and  getting  in  one 
another's  way,  as  they  toiled  along  over  the  muddy  road, 
three  and  four  abreast.  In  all  directions,  in  front  as 
well  as  behind,  wherever  the  ear  hstened,  were  heard 
the  creaking  of  wheels,  the  rumbling  of  vehicles,  carts 
and  gun-carriages,  the  trampling  of  horses'  feet,  the 
cracking  of  whips,  the  shouts  of  drivers,  the  cursing  of 
soldiers,  servants,  and  officers. 

Along  the  borders  of  the  highway  were  everywhere 
seen  the  carcasses  of  horses  that  had  fallen,  and  been 
left,  either  flayed  or  not  flayed,  as  the  case  might  be ; 
then  broken-down  wagons,  by  which  solitary  soldiers  sat 
waiting  for  something ;  then,  again,  he  saw  little  detach- 
ments of  troops  straying  from  the  main  column  and 
hastening  to  scattered  villages,  or  coming  back  from 
them,  with  hens,  sheep,  hay,  or  bags  filled  with  various 
objects. 

On  the  slopes  and  rises  the  groups  crowded  together 
still  more  densely,  and  there  was  an  uninterrupted 
tumult  of   noises.     Soldiers  plodding  through  mud  up 


WAR    AND    PEACE  235 

to  their  knees  helped  to  drag,  by  main  force,  the  field- 
pieces  and  wagons.  Whips  cracked,  hoofs  slipped, 
traces  strained,  and  throats  were  split  with  shouting. 
The  officers  who  directed  the  retreat  galloped  back 
and  forth  among  the  wagons.  Their  voices  were  hardly 
distinguishable  above  the  general  uproar,  and  it  could 
be  seen  by  their  faces  that  they  were  in  despair  at  the 
possibility  of  reducing  this  chaos  into  order. 

'*  Here  is  our  dear  Orthodox  army,"  said  Bolkonsky 
to  himself,  quoting  Bilibin's  words. 

Wishing  to  inquire  of  some  of  these  men  where  the 
commander-in-chief  was  to  be  found,  he  galloped  up  to 
the  train.  Directly  opposite  to  him  was  an  odd  equi- 
page, a  sort  of  cross  betw^een  a  cart,  a  cabriolet,  and 
a  calash,  drawn  by  one  horse,  and  evidently  constructed 
out  of  some  soldier's  domestic  belongings.  This  vehicle 
was  driven  by  a  soldier,  and  under  the  leather  cover, 
behind  the  apron,  sat  a  woman  all  wrapped  up  in  shawls. 

Prince  Andrei  rode  up  and  was  just  going  to  question 
the  soldier,  when  his  attention,  was  attracted  by  the 
despairing  shrieks  of  the  woman  sitting  in  the  vehicle. 
An  officer,  who  had  charge  of  the  train,  had  set  to  beat- 
ing her  driver  because  he  attempted  to  pass  ahead  of 
the  others,  and  the  blows  of  the  whip  fell  on  the 
apron.  The  woman  w^as  screaming  desperately.  See- 
ing Prince  Andrei,  she  thrust  her  head  out  from  under 
the  hood,  and  waving  her  thin  arms,  freed  from  the 
shawls,  she  cried  :  — 

**Aide!  Mr.  Aide  !....  for  God's  sake  ....  protect  me! 
What  will  become  of  us  ? ....  I  am  the  doctor's  wife,  of  the 

Seventh  Jagers They  won't  let  us  pass,  we  are  left 

behind,  and  have  lost  our  friends." 

"  I  will  knock  you  flatter  than  a  pancake !  turn 
back!"  cried  the  officer,  angrily,  to  the  soldier;  ''back 
with  you,  and  take  your  jade !  " 

"  Mr.  Aide,  help  me  !  What-  can  I  do  ?  "  cried  the 
doctor's  wife. 

"  Please  let  this  team  pass.  Don't  you  see  that  it 
is  a  woman .''  "  said  Prince  Andrei,  riding  up  to  the 
officer. 


236  WAR    AND    PEACE 

The  officer  glanced  at  him,  and,  without  saying  a 
word,  turned  to  the  soldier  again.  "I  '11  teach  you.... 
back ! " 

*'  Let  them  pass,  I  tell  you,"  repeated  Prince  Andret, 
compressing  his  lips. 

**  Who  are  you,  anyway  ?  "  suddenly  cried  the  officer, 
turning  to  Prince  Andrei,  in  a  drunken  fury.  **  Who 
are  you  ?  "  (he  addressed  him  insolently,  with  a  special 
emphasis  on  the  insulting  word).  *' Are  you  commander 
here  ?  I  'm  the  commander  here,  and  not  you!  Back 
with  you,  I  '11  knock  you  flatter  'n  a  pancake." 

This  expression  had  evidently  pleased  the  officer. 

"  He  gave  the  little  aide  a  capital  rating,"  said  a  voice 
behind. 

Prince  Andrei  saw  that  the  officer  had  got  into  one  of 
those  paroxysms  of  drunken  fury  in  which  a  man  is  not 
responsible  for  what  he  says.  He  saw  that  his  inter- 
ference in  the  troubles  of  the  doctor's  wife  was  attended 
with  what  he  feared  more  than  aught  else  in  the  world, 
—  being  made  ridiculous,  but  instinct  immediately  came 
to  his  aid.  The  officer  had  not  time  to  finish  what  he 
was  saying  before  Prince  Andrei,  his  face  distorted  by 
rage,  rode  close  to  him  and  held  up  his  whip :  "  Have 
the  goodness  to  let  them  pass !  " 

The  officer  shook  his  fist  in  his  face  and  hastily  rode 
off.  "  It  all  comes  from  them,  from  these  staff-officers, 
all  this  disorder  does,"  he  muttered.  **  Do  as  you 
please." 

Prince  Andrei  hastily  rode  away,  without  looking  up 
or  heeding  the  thanks  of  the  doctor's  wife,  who  called 
him  her  preserver ;  and,  recalling  with  disgust  the  par- 
ticulars of  this  humiliating  scene,  he  galloped  toward 
the  village  where  he  had  been  told  that  the  commander- 
in-chief  was  to  be  found. 

When  he  reached  this  village,  he  dismounted  and 
started  for  the  first  house,  intending  to  rest,  if  only  for 
a  minute,  and  get  something  to  eat,  and  try  to  banish  all 
the  humiliating  thoughts  that  tortured  him.  ''This  is 
a  troop  of  footpads  and  not  an  army,"  he  was  saying  to 
himself,  when,  just  as  he  happened  to  look  up  at  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  237 

window  of  the  first  house,  a  well-known  voice  called  him 
by  name. 

He  looked  up  and  saw  Nesvitsky's  handsome  face 
thrust  out  of  the  window.  Nesvitsky,  vigorously  chew- 
ing something  in  his  moist  mouth,  was  waving  his  hand 
and  calling  him  to  come  in. 

''Bolkonsky!  Bolkonsky!  don't  you  hear  me.?  Come 
quick  !  "  he  cried. 

Entering  the  house,  Prince  Andrei'  found  Nesvitsky 
and  another  aide  having  some  luncheon.  They  turned 
eagerly  to  Bolkonsky,  with  the  question  whether  he  had 
brought  anything  new.  Prince  Andrei  read  in  their 
well-known  faces  an  expression  of  alarm  and  uneasi- 
ness. This  expression  was  especially  noticeable  on 
Nesvitsky's  usually  jolly  face. 

•'  Where  is  the  commander-in-chief  ? "  asked  Bol- 
konsky. 

"  Here,  in  yonder  house,"  replied  the  aide. 

"Tell  us,  is  it  true  there  is  peace  and  a  capitulation?" 
demanded  Nesvitsky. 

*'  I  should  have  to  ask  you  that !  I  know  nothing, 
except  that  I  had  great  trouble  in  finding  you." 

"  And  what  sort  of  a  plight  do  you  find  us  in  !  It 's 
horrible,  my  dear  fellow  ;  I  plead  guilty  for  having 
laughed  at  Mack,  but  here  we  are  in  a  far  worse  posi- 
tion, brother,"  said  Nesvitsky.  "  But  sit  down  and 
have  something  to  eat. 

**  Now,  prince,  you  won't  find  your  luggage,  or  any- 
thing, and  only  God  knows  where  your  man,*  Piotr,  is," 
said  the  other  aide. 

"  Where  's  the  headquarters  }  " 

"We  are  to  spend  the  night  at  Znaim." 

"And  I  had  everything  I  needed  packed  on  two 
horses,"  said  Nesvitsky,  "and  they  made  me  some 
splendid  pack-saddles.  Even  though  we  should  have 
to  worry  through  the  mountains  of  Bohemia.  It 's  a  bad 
state  of  things,  brother.  What's  the  matter.?  .  Aren't 
you  well,  you  shake  so .? "  asked  Nesvitsky,  noticing 
that  a  sudden  tremor  ran  over  Prince  Andrei,  as  if  from 
the  discharge  of  a  Leyden  jar. 


238  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  Nothing  is  the  matter,"  replied  Prince  AndreY.  He 
happened  at  that  instant  to  remember  his  recent  en- 
counter with  the  doctor's  wife  and  the  officer  of  the 
baggage-train. 

''What's  the  commander-in-chief  doing  here?"  he 
went  on  to  ask. 

"  I  have  n't  the  least  idea,"  replied  Nesvitsky. 

"  All  I  know  is  that  it  is  all  a  nasty,  nasty,  nasty  busi- 
ness," said  Prince  Andrei,  and  he  started  for  the  house 
where  the  commander-in-chief  was. 

Passing  by  Kutuzof 's  carriage,  the  jaded  saddle-horses 
of  his  suite,  and  the  vociferating  Cossacks,  he  went  into 
the  cottage.  Kutuzof  himself,  as  Prince  Andrei  had 
been  told,  was  in  the  cottage  with  Prince  Bagration  and 
Weirother.  Weirother  w^as  the  Austrian  general  who 
had  succeeded  to  the  place  of  Schmidt,  who  had  been 
killed. 

In  the  entry,  the  little  Kozlovsky  was  squatting  on 
his  heels  before  a  clerk.  The  clerk,  with  his  cuffs 
rolled  up,  was  hastily  writing,  with  a  tub  turned  over 
for  a  desk.  Kozlovsky's  face  looked  pinched  and  wan ; 
he  had  evidently  not  slept  the  night  before.  He 
glanced  up  as  Prince  Andrei  came  in,  but  he  did  not 
even  nod  to  him. 

''Second   line Have   you  written   it.''"    said    he, 

proceeding  with  what  he  was  dictating  to  the  clerk : 
"The  Kief  grenadiers,  the  Podolian ...." 

"Don't  go  so  fast,  your  honor,"  ^  said  the  clerk  in  a 
disrespectful  and  surly  manner,  looking  up  at  Kozlovsky. 

Kutuzof's  animated  and  impatient  voice  was  at  this 
moment  heard  in  the  room  beyond,  answered  by  another 
which  Prince  Andrei"  did  not  recognize.  By  the  sound 
of  these  two  voices,  by  the  preoccupied  way  in  which 
Kozlovsky  glanced  up  at  him,  by  the  surly  disrespect 
shown  by  the  clerk,  by  the  fact  that  the  clerk  and  Koz- 
lovsky were  sitting  on  the  floor  by  a  tub,  and  so  handy 
to  the  commander-in-chief,  and  finally,  because  the  Cos- 
sacks holding  the  saddle-horses  were  laughing  so  noisily 
in  front  of  the  windows,  —  by  all  of  this,  Prince  Andrei 

1  Vashe  vuisokoblagorddie :  high-wellborn,  Hochivohlgeboren. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  239 

was  impressed  with  the  idea  that  something  grave  and 
disagreeable  must  have  occurred. 

Prince  Andrei,  with  urgency,  turned  to  Kozlovsky 
with  questions. 

''  In  a  moment,  prince,"  said  Kozlovsky.     ''  These  are 
the  dispositions  for  Bagration." 
'*  But  the  capitulation  .?  " 

''There  's  no  such  thing.  Preparations  are  making 
for  a  battle." 

Prince  Andrei  started  for  the  room  where  he  heard 
the  talking.     But,  just  as  he  was  going  to  open  the  door, 
the  voices  in  the  room  became  silent,  the  door  was  flung 
open,  and  Kutuzof,  with  his  eagle  nose  and  puffy  face, 
appeared   on   the  threshold.     Prince   Andrei   stood   di^ 
rectly  in  front  of  him ;  but  from  the  expression  of  the 
commander-in-chief's  one  available  eye  it  could  be  seen 
that  he  was  so  absolutely  absorbed  by  his  work  and  idea 
that  he  did  not  see  anything  at  all.     He  looked  straight 
into  his  aide's  face  and  yet  did  not  recognize  him. 
"  How  now  !     Finished  ?  "  he  inquired  of  Kozlovsky. 
'*  In  one  second,  your  excellency." 
Bagration,  a  short,  slender  man,  still  in  the  prime  of 
life,  and  with  a  firm  and  impassive  face  of  the  Oriental 
type,  followed  the  commander-in-chief. 

"  I  have  the  honor  of  presenting  myself,"  said  Prince 
Andrei,  in  a  pretty  loud  tone,  and  at  the  same  time  ex- 
tending an  envelope. 

''  Ah  ?     From  Vienna  ?     Good  !     Wait,  wait !  " 
Kutuzof  and  Bagration  went  out  on  the  step. 
''Well,    prince,    good-by,"     said    he    to    Bagration. 
"Christ  be  with  you!     I  give  you  my  best  wishes  for 
the  great  task." 

Kutuzof's  face  unexpectedly  softened,  and  the  tears 
came  into  his  eyes.  With  his  left  hand  he  drew  Bagra- 
tion to  him,  and  with  his  right,  on  which  flashed  a  ring, 
he  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  him  in  a  manner 
peculiar  to  himself,  and  offered  him  his  puffy  cheek  to 
kiss,  instead  of  which  Bagration  kissed  him  on  the  neck. 
"Christ  be  with  you,"  repeated  Kutuzof,  and  went  to 
his  calash.  —  "  Come  with  me,"  said  he  to  Bolkonsky. 


240  WAR   AND    PEACE 

**  Your  high  excellency,  I  should  like  to  be  employed 
in  this  movement.  Let  me  stay  in  Prince  Bagration's. 
division." 

"  Come  with  me,"  again  said  Kutuzof,  and,  noticing 
that  Bolkonsky  hesitated,  he  added :  **  I  myself  need 
good  officers,  I  need  them  myself." 

They  took  their  seats  in  the  calash  and  drove  in  silence 
for  some  minutes. 

"There  is  still  much,  very  much,  before  us,"  said  he, 
with  an  old  man's  keenness  of  perception,  as  if  he 
clearly  read  all  that  was  passing  in  Bolkonsky's  mind. 
**  If  a  tenth  part  of  his  division  returns  to-morrow,  I 
shall  thank  God,"  added  Kutuzof,  evidently  talking  to 
himself. 

Prince  Andrei  looked  at  Kutuzof,  and  his  eyes  were 
involuntarily  attracted  by  the  deep  scar  on  his  tem- 
ple, where  the  Turkish  bullet  had  crashed  through 
his  heud  at  Izmailo,  and  by  his  extravasated  eye. 

"  Yes,  he  has  a  right  to  speak  thus  calmly  of  the  de- 
strr/;tion  of  these  men,"  thought  Prince  Bolkonsky. 

"  That  was  the  very  reason  why  I  asked  you  to  let 
mf?  go  with  that  division,"  said  he,  aloud. 

Kutuzof  made  no  reply.  It  seemed  as  if  he  had  al- 
ready forgotten  what  he  had  just  said,  and  he  sat  ab- 
sorbed in  thought.  Five  minutes  later  Kutuzof,  com- 
fortably rocking  on  the  easy  springs  of  the  calash, 
turned  to  Prince  Andrei.  His  face  showed  not  a  sign 
of  emotion.  With  gentle  irony  he  began  to  ask  Prince 
Andrei  after  the  details  of  his  interview  with  the  em- 
peror, the  court  gossip  concerning  the  Krems  engage- 
ment, and  concerning  certain  women  with  whom  both 
of  them  were  acquainted. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

Kutuzof  had  learned  on  the  thirteenth  of  November, 
through  one  of  his  scouts,  that  the  army  under  his  com- 
mand was  in  an  almost  inextricable  position.  The  scout 
had  brought  word  that  the  French,   in  overwhelming 


WAR   AND    PEACE  241 

numbers,  had  crossed  the  bridge  at  Vienna,  and  were 
marching  to  cut  off  the  communication  between  Kutii- 
zof  and  the  reinforcements  coming  to  him  from  Russia, 

If  Kutuzof  decided  to  remain  at  Krems,  then  Napo- 
leon s  army  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men 
would  cut  him  off  from  all  his  communications,  would 
outflank  his  exhausted  army  of  forty  thousand,  and 
then  he  would  be  in  the  same  position  as  Mack  at  Ulm. 

If  Kutuzof  decided  to  abandon  the  road  leading  to 
his  point  of  communication  with  his  reinforcements, 
then  he  would  be  obliged  to  penetrate  into  the  unknown 
and  pathless  region  of  the  Bohemian  mountains,  defend- 
ing his  rear  from  the  constant  attacks  of  the  enemy  on 
his  trail,  and  giving  up  all  hope  of  effecting  a  junction 
with  Buxhovden. 

If  Kutuzof  determined  to  take  the  highway  from 
Krems  to  Olmiitz,  so  as  to  meet  the  reinforcement  from 
Russia,  then  he  ran  the  risk  of  being  anticipated  on  this 
route  by  the  French,  who  had  crossed  the  Danube  at 
Vienna  and  would  be  likely  to  force  him  to  fight  in  the 
middle  of  the  march,  burdened  with  all  the  luggage  and 
train  baggage,  and  to  deal  with  an  enemy  double  his 
own  number,  and  surrounding  him  on  two  sides. 

Kutuzof  had  decided  on  this  last  alternative. 

The  French,  according  to  the  report  of  the  scout,  had 
crossed  the  bridge  at  Vienna,  and  were  in  full  march 
upon  Znaim,  which  lay  in  the  line  of  Kutuzof's  projected 
retreat,  more  than  a  hundred  versts  —  about  sixty  miles 
—  ahead  of  him.  If  they  could  reach  Znaim  before  the 
French,  they  were  in  a  fair  hope  of  saving  the  army ; 
but  if  the  French  were  given  a  chance  of  getting  to 
Znaim  first,  it  surely  meant  the  disgrace  of  a  surrender, 
like  that  at  Ulm,  or  else  the  general  destruction  of  the 
army.  It  was  certainly  impossible  to  anticipate  the 
French  with  all  the  troops.  The  road  which  the  French 
would  traverse  from  Vienna  to  Znaim  was  both  shorter 
and  better  than  the  road  which  the  Russians  had  from 
Krems  to  Znaim. 

On  the  night  after  receiving  this  information,  Kutu- 
zof sent  four  thousand   men  of   Bagration's  vanguard 

VOL.  I. — 16 


242  WAR    AND    PEACE 

over  the  mountains  to  occupy  the  road  from  Vienna  to 
Znaim.  Bagration  was  ordered  to  make  this  short  cut 
without  pausing  to  rest ;  he  was  to  face  Vienna  and 
turn  his  back  on  Znaim,  and  if  he  succeeded  in  getting 
there  before  the  French  did,  he  was  to  do  his  best  to 
hold  them  in  check.  Kutuzof  himself,  with  all  the  bag- 
gage, would  hasten  on  toward  Znaim. 

Bagration,  crossing  the  mountains,  marching  without 
a  road,  forty-five  versts  on  a  stormy  night,  losing  a  third 
part  of  his  forces  in  stragglers,  came  out  with  his  fam- 
ished, shoeless  men  at  Hollabrunn,  on  the  road  from 
Vienna  to  Znaim,  a  few  hours  before  the  French 
reached  it  from  Vienna.  It  was  necessary  for  Kutuzof 
to  travel  a  whole  day  and  night  with  his  baggage-wagons 
before  reaching  Znaim,  and,  therefore,  in  order  to  save 
the  army,  Bagration,  with  only  four  thousand  soldiers, 
hungry  and  tired  out,  was  obliged  to  engage  the  entire 
force  of  the  enemy  during  the  course  of  the  twenty- 
four  hours  ;  this  was  manifestly  impossible. 

But  a  strange  chance  made  the  impossible  possible. 

Having  been  successful  in  the  piece  of  finesse  which 
had  given  the  French  the  bridge  at  Vienna  without  a 
blow,  Murat  thought  that  it  would  be  fine  to  try  a  simi- 
lar deception  on  Kutuzof.  Meeting  Bagration's  feeble 
contingent  on  the  road  to  Znaim,  he  supposed  that  it 
was  Kutuzof's  whole  army.  In  order  that  there  might 
be  no  question  of  his  crushing  this  army,  he  determined 
to  wait  the  arrival  of  all  the  forces  that  had  started  out 
from  Vienna,  and,  with  this  end  in  view,  he  proposed  an 
armistice  for  three  days,  with  the  condition  that  both 
armies  should  not  change  their  positions,  or  move  from 
their  places. 

Murat  asserted  that  negotiations  for  peace  were  al- 
ready in  progress,  and  that,  therefore,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  useless  shedding  of  blood,  he  had  proposed  the 
armistice.  The  Austrian  general.  Count  Nostitz,  who 
was  posted  in  the  van,  placed  credence  in  the  words 
of  Murat's  emissary,  and  retired,  exposing  Bagration. 
Another  emissary  came  to  the  Russian  line  to  make  the 
same   assurances   about  negotiations   of   peace,   and  to 


WAR    AND    PEACE  243 

propose  three  days'  armistice.  Bagration  answered  that 
he  was  not  authorized  either  to  refuse  or  accept  an 
armistice,  and  he  sent  his  adjutant  back  to  Kutuzof,  to 
carry  the  proposition  that  had  been  made  to  him. 

The  armistice  was,'  for  Kutuzof,  the  only  means  of 
gaining  time,  of  giving  Bagration's  toil-worn  division  a 
chance  to  rest,  and  of  sending  the  baggage-wagons  and 
other  things  (the  movements  of  which  were  concealed 
from  the  French)  by  a  roundabout  way  to  Znaim.  The 
proposal  for  an  armistice  offered  the  only  possibility, 
and  one  most  unexpected,  of  saving  the  army. 

On  the  receipt  of  this  news,  Kutuzof  promptly  sent 
his  adjutant-general,  Winzengerode,  who  happened  to 
be  present,  over  to  the  hostile  camp.  Winzengerode 
was  not  only  to  accept  the  armistice,  but  also  even  to 
propose  terms  of  capitulation,  while,  in  the  meantime, 
Kutuzof  sent  his  aides  back  to  expedite  the  movements 
of  the  baggage-train  of  the  whole  army  along  the  road 
from  Krems  to  Znaim.  The  weary,  famished  contin- 
gent under  Bagration  was  to  cover  this  operation  of  the 
baggage-train  and  of  the  whole  army,  and  to  maintain 
a  firm  front  against  an  enemy  eight  times  as  strong. 

Kutuzof  saw  that  by  discussing  terms  of  capitulation, 
which  did  not  bind  him  to  anything,  time  would  be 
gained  for  sending  around  at  least  a  portion  of  the 
heavy  baggage,  but  he  also  saw  that  Murat's  blunder 
would  be  quickly  detected.  Both  of  these  anticipations 
were  realized. 

As  soon  as  Bonaparte,  who  was  at  Schonbrunn, 
twenty-five  versts  from  HoUabrunn,  read  Murat's  re- 
port and  his  scheme  for  an  armistice  and  capitulation, 
he  saw  through  the  hoax,  and  wrote  the  following  letter 
to  him  :  — 

Schonbrunn,  Nov.  16,  1805,  8  o'clock  a.m. 

To  Prince  Murat  :  —  I  cannot  find  words  to  express  my  dis- 
pleasure. You  merely  command  my  van,  and  have  no  right 
to  conclude  an  armistice  without  orders  from  me.  You  are 
making  me  lose  the  advantage  of  a  campaign.  End  the  armis- 
tice instantly,  and  march  on  the  enemy.     Explain  to  him  that 


244  WAR    AND    PEACE 

the  general  who  signed  this  capitulation  had  no  right  to  do  so, 
—  that  only  the  Emperor  of  Russia  has  this  right. 

However,  if  the  Russian  em])eror  should  ratify  the  proposed 
agreement,  I  also  would  ratify  it.  But  it  is  only  a  trick. 
March  !  Destroy  the  Russian  army  !  You  are  in  a  position 
to  capture  their  jjaggage  and  artillery. 

The  Russian  emperor's  adjutant-general  is  a Officers 

are  of  no  account  when  they  are  not  endowed  with  any  powers  ; 
this  one  had  none.  The  Austrians  let  themselves  be  duped 
about  the  crossing  of  the  Vienna  bridge ;  you  have  allowed 
yourself  to  be  duped  by  the  Russians. 

Napoleon.^ 

Bonaparte's  aide  galloped  off  at  headlong  speed,  to 
carry  this  angry  letter  to  Murat.  Bonaparte  himself, 
not  feeling  confidence  in  his  generals,  moved  toward 
the  field  of  battle  with  all  his  guards,  fearing  lest  he 
should  be  cheated  of  his  prey ;  and  the  four  thousand 
men  under  Bagration,  gayly  building  bivouac  fires,  dried 
and  warmed  themselves  and  for  the  first  time  in  three 
days  cooked  their  kasha,  and  not  one  of  the  detachment 
knew  or  dreamed  of  what  was  threatening  them. 

1  SCHONBRUNN,  25  Brumatre^  en  1805,  h  huit  henre  du  maiin. 

Au  Prince  Murat  : — //  jn^est  impossible  de  trouver  des  termes pour 
vous  exprinier  mon  niecontentement.  Vous  ne  commandez  que  tnon  avant- 
garde,  et  vous  n''avez  pas  le  droit  de  faire  d^ armistice  sans  mon  ordre. 
Vous^  me  faites perdre  le  fruit  d''une  campagne.  Rompez  Parjuistice  sur 
le  champ,  et  marchez  sur  ennemi.  Vous  lui  ferez  declarer  que  le  general 
qui  a  signe  cette  capitulation  11' avail  pas  le  droit  de  le  faire,  qu'il  n'y  a 
que  Vempereur  de  Russie  qui  ait  ce  droit. 

Toutes  les  fois  cependant  que  V Empereur  de  Russie  ratifierait  la  dite 
convention,  je  la  ratiferai ;  mais  ce  n''est  quhine  ruse.  Marchez,  de- 
truisez  Varmee  russe.  Vous  etes  une  position  de  prendre  son  bagage  et  son 
artillerie. 

Vaide  de  campe  de  r Empereur  de  Russie  est  tin Les  orders  ne 

sont  rien  quand  ils  n''ont  pas  de  pouvoirs :  celui-ci  n'en  avail  point. 
Les  Autrichiens  se  sont  laisse  jouer  pour  le  passage  du  pont  de  Vienne, 
vous-vous  laissez  jouer  par  un  aide  de  camp  de  Vempereur. 

Napoleon. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  245 


CHAPTER   XV 

It  was  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  Prince 
Andrei,  having  through  his  urgency  been  granted  his 
request  by  Kutuzof,  reached  Grund,  and  reported  to 
Bagration.  Bonaparte's  aide  had  not  yet  reached  Mu- 
rat's  division,  and  the  battle  had  not  begun.  Nothing 
was  known  in  Bagration's  detachment  about  the  gen- 
eral course  of  events ;  they  talked  about  a  peace,  but 
did  not  believe  in  its  possibility.  They  talked  also 
about  an  engagement,  but  neither  did  they  believe  in 
the  imminence  of  any  engagement.  Bagration,  know- 
ing that  Bolkonsky  was  the  commander-in-chief's  favor- 
ite and  trusted  adjutant,  received  him  with  all  the  marks 
of  respect  and  condescension  possible  to  a  commander, 
assured  him  that  either  that  day  or  the  next  an  engage- 
ment would  probably  take  place,  and  granted  him  free 
choice  to  be  present  with  him  during  the  battle,  or  to  re- 
main in  the  rear  and  superintend  the  retreat,  ''  which," 
he  said,  "would  be  a  very  important  position." 

"  However,  it  is  most  likely  that  nothing  will  be  done 
to-day,"  said  Prince  Bagration,  as  if  to  relieve  Prince 
Andrei's  anxieties. 

At  the  same  time  he  thought :  "  If  this  is  only  one 
of  the  ordinary  jack-a-dandies  of  the  staff,  sent  out  to 
win  a  cross,  he  will  get  it  just  as  well  by  staying  in  the 

rear ;    but  if  he  desires  to  be  with  me,  let  him He 

will  be  useful  if  he  is  a  brave  officer." 

Prince  Andrei  gave  no  decided  answer,  but  asked 
the  prince's  permission  to  reconnoiter  the  position  and 
learn  the  disposition  of  the  forces,  so  that  in  case  of 
necessity  he  might  know  where  he  was.  The  officer 
on  duty,  a  handsome  man,  faultlessly  attired  and  with 
a  diamond  ring  on  his  index  finger,  who  spoke  French 
badly  but  fluently,  offered  to  be  Prince  Andrei's  guide. 

On  all  sides  were  to  be  seen  wet  and  melancholy- 
looking  officers,  apparently  searching  for  something, 
and  soldiers  lugging  from  the  village  doors,  benches, 
and  fences. 


146  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  Here,  prince,  we  cannot  get  rid  of  such  men  as 
these,"  said  the  staff-officer,  pointing  to  the  soldiers. 
"The  officers  let  them  leave  their  places.  And  here 
again !  "  the  officer  pointed  to  a  sutler's  tent  pitched 
near  them,  "they  gather  around  and  loaf.  This  morn- 
ing I  drove  them  all  out,  and  look  !  it 's  all  full  again. 
I   must  go  and  disperse  them.     One  minute!" 

"  Let  us  go,  and  I  will  get  some  cheese  and  a  loaf 
of  bread  of  him,"  said  Prince  AndreT,  who  had  not  yet 
had  anything  to  eat. 

"  Why  did  n't  you  tell  me,  prince  ?  I  should  have 
been  delighted  to  have  shared  my  bread  and  salt  with 
you." 

They  dismounted  and  went  into  the  sutler's  tent, 
where  a  few  men  and  a  number  of  officers  with  flushed 
and  weary  faces  were  sitting  around  a  table,  eating  and 
drinking. 

"  Now  what  does  this  mean,  gentlemen  ?  "  said  the 
staff-officer  in  a  tone  of  vexation,  like  a  man  who  has 
been  iterating  the  same  thing  again  and  again.  "  You 
know  it  is  forbidden  to  absent  yourselves  from  your 
posts  in  this  way.  The  prince  has  forbidden  any  such 
thing.  —  And  here  you  are,  Mr.  Captain!"  said  he, 
turning  to  a  little,  lean,  dirty  artillery  officer,  who  with- 
out boots  (he  had  given  them  to  the  sutler  to  dry), 
in  his  stocking-feet,  stood  up  as  the  others  entered, 
and  greeted  them  with  a  not  altogether  natural 
smile.  "Well,  aren't  you  ashamed  of  yourself,  Cap- 
tain Tushin  ?  "  continued  the  staff-officer.  "  One  would 
think  that  as  an  officer  you  would  set  a  good  example, 
and  here  you  are  with  your  boots  off!  If  an  alarm 
were  sounded,  you  would  make  a  fine  show  without 
boots  !  "  The  staff-officer  smiled  satirically.  "  Please 
go  to  your  places,  gentlemen,  all,  all  of  you,"  he  added, 
in  a  tone  of  command. 

Prince  Andrei  could  not  help  smiling  as  he  looked 
at  Captain  Tushin,  who,  silent  and  smiling,  stood  first 
on  one  bare  foot  and  then  on  the  other,  and  looked 
inquiringly  with  his  large,  intelligent,  and  good-natured 
eyes  from  Prince  Andrei  to  the  officer  of  the  day. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  247 

"The  soldiers  say:  'It's  easier  to  go  barefooted,'" 
said  Captain  Tushin,  timid  and  still  smiling,  evidently 
anxious  to  escape  from  his  awkward  predicament  by 
assuming  a  jesting  tone  ;  but  he  did  not  say  anything 
further,  as  if  he  felt  that  his  joke  was  not  appreciated 
and  was  not  a  success.     He  grew  confused. 

"  Please  go  to  your  places,"  repeated  the  staff-ofificer, 
trying  to  preserve  his  gravity. 

Prince  Andrei  once  more  glanced  at  the  diminutive 
form  of  the  artillery  officer.  There  was  something 
about  it  peculiar,  utterly  unmilitary,  and  rather  comical, 
but  still  extraordinarily  attractive. 

The  officer  of  the  day  and  Prince  Andrei  remounted 
their  horses  and  rode  on. 

Having  passed  beyond  the  village,  constantly  over- 
taking or  meeting  soldiers  and  officers  of  different  divis- 
ions, they  came  in  sight  of  the  new  entrenchments  at 
their  left,  made  of  reddish  clay  freshly  dug  up.  Sev- 
eral battalions  of  soldiers  in  their  shirt-sleeves,  in  spite 
of  the  cold  wind,  and  looking  like  white  ants,  were 
busy  digging  at  these  fortifications.  Behind  the  breast- 
works, shovelfuls  of  red  clay  were  constantly  tossed  up 
by  men  hidden  from  sight.  They  rode  up  to  the  earth- 
works, examined  them,  and  then  proceeding,  mounted 
the  opposite  slope.  From  the  top  of  it  they  could  see 
the  French.  Prince  Andrei  reined  in  his  horse  and 
began  to  look  around. 

"There's  where  our  battery  is  stationed,"  said  the 
staff-ofificer,  indicating  the  highest  point,  —  "  under 
command  of  that  droll  fellow  whom  we  saw  without  his 
boots.  From  the  top  there,  you  can  get  a  bird's-eye 
view  of  everything;  let  us  go  to  it,  prince." 

"  I  thank  you  cordially,  but  now  I  can  make  my  way 
alone,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  wishing  to  get  rid  of  the 
staff-officer.     "  Do  not  trouble  yourself,  I  beg  of  you." 

The  staff-officer  turned  back,  and  Prince  Andrei  rode 
on  alone. 

The  farther  toward  the  front  he  rode,  and  the  nearer 
to  the  enemy  he  came,  the  more  orderly  and  admirably 
disposed  seemed  to  be  the  army.     The  greatest  disorder 


248  WAR    AND    PEACE 

and  despondency  were  in  that  division  of  the  baggage- 
train  before  Znaim  which  Prince  Andrei'  had  overtaken 
that  morning  and  which  was  at  least  ten  versts  from  the 
French.  In  Grund  also  there  was  a  certain  atmosphere 
of  apprehension  and  fear  of  something. 

But  the  nearer  Prince  Andrei  came  to  the  French  out- 
posts, the  more  satisfactory  seemed  to  be  the  condition 
of  the  Russian  forces.  The  soldiers  in  their  cloaks 
stood  drawn  up  in  line,  and  a  sergeant  and  a  captain 
were  counting  the  men,  laying  a  finger  on  the  breast  of 
the  last  soldier  of  each  division  and  directing  him  to 
lift  his  hand.  Others,  scattered  over  the  whole  space, 
were  dragging  sticks  and  brushwood  and  constructing 
rude  huts,  while  they  gayly  laughed  and  chatted  ;  around 
the  bivouac  fires,  some  dressed  and  others  stripped  were 
drying  their  shirts  and  leg-wrappers,  mending  their  boots 
and  cloaks,  crowding  around  the  kettles  and  kasha-pots. 
In  one  company,  dinner  was  ready  and  the  soldiers  with 
eager  faces  gazed  at  the  steaming  kettle  and  waited 
while  the  kaptenarmiis  or  sergeant  carried  a  wooden 
cupful  to  be  tasted  by  the  officer  who  was  sitting  on  a 
log  in  front  of  his  hut. 

In  another  company,  more  fortunate,  since  not  all 
were  provided  with  vodka,  the  soldiers  stood  in  a  throng 
around  a  pock-marked  broad-shouldered  sergeant,  who, 
tilting  the  keg,  filled  in  turn  the  covers  of  the  cans  which 
eager  hands  extended  toward  him.  The  soldiers,  with 
reverent  faces,  lifted  the  can-covers  to  their  lips,  drained 
them,  and,  rinsing  the  vodka  in  their  mouths  and  wiping 
them  on  their  coat-sleeves,  went  off  with  contented  faces. 
All  the  faces  were  as  free  from  care  as  if  the  enemy 
were  miles  away  and  there  were  no  probability  of  a 
battle  in  which  at  least  half  their  division  might  be 
left  on  the  field, — as  if  indeed  they  were  somewhere  in 
their  native  land  anticipating  undisturbed  repose. 

Having  ridden  past  the  regiment  of  jagers,  Prince 
Andrei  reached  the  Kief  grenadiers,  gallant  young 
fellows,  occupied  all  with  the  same  peaceful  pursuits  ; 
but  not  far  from  the  regimental  commander's  hut,  dis- 
tinguished only  by  its  height  from  the  others,  he  saw  a 


WAR    AND    PEACE  249 

platoon  of  the  grenadiers,  in  front  of  whom  lay  a  man, 
stripped.  Two  soldiers  held  him  down,  and  two,  flour- 
ishing supple  rods,  were  giving  him  measured  strokes 
on  his  naked  back. 

The  man  who  was  undergoing  the  punishment 
screamed  unnaturally.  A  stout  major  walked  up  and 
down  in  front  of  the  line,  and,  without  heeding  the  man's 
shrieks,  kept  saying  :  — 

"  It 's  scandalous  for  a  soldier  to  steal ;  a  soldier 
ought  to  be  honest,  noble,  and  brave,  and  if  he  steals 
from  his  comrade,  he  has  no  honor  in  him  ;  he  's  a  mean 
fellow.     More  !  more  !  " 

And  still  resounded  the  swishing  of  the  rods  and  the 
despairing  but  pretendedly  piteous  cries.  **  More ! 
more  !  "  repeated  the  major.  A  young  officer,  who  was 
just  turning  away  from  the  scene  of  the  punishment  with 
a  mixed  expression  of  incredulity  and  compassion,  looked 
up  questioningly  at  the  aide,  as  he  rode  by. 

Prince  Andrei,  passing  to  the  extreme  front,  rode 
along  by  the  outposts.  The  Russian  pickets  and  those 
of  the  French  were  separated  by  a  considerable  distance 
at  each  flank,  but  at  the  center,  on  that  space  where  the 
emissaries  had  crossed  in  the  morning,  the  lines  were 
so  close  that  they  could  see  one  another's  faces  and  ex- 
change remarks.  Besides  the  soldiers  who  were  sta- 
tioned as  pickets  in  this  place,  there  stood  on  both  sides 
many  sight-seers,  who,  laughing  and  jesting,  stared  at 
the  hostile  troops  as  if  they  were  strange  and  foreign 
curiosities. 

Ever  since  early  morning  (notwithstanding  the  orders 
forbidding  their  presence),  the  officers  had  been  unable 
to  rid  themselves  of  these  inquisitive  persons  within  the 
lines.  The  soldiers,  standing  in  the  lines,  like  men  who 
had  come  out  to  see  something  rare,  no  longer  paid  any 
attention  to  the  French,  but  made  observations  on  the 
new-comers,  or,  bored  to  death,  waited  to  be  relieved. 
Prince  Andrei  reined  in  his  horse  to  reconnoiter  the 
French. 

**  Look  you,  look  !  "  said  one  soldier  to  his  comrade, 
pointing  to  a  musketeer,  who,  in  com.pany  with  an  officer 


ISO  WAR   AND    PEACE 

had  gone  up  to  the  Une  of  sentries,  and  was  talking 
earnestly  and  hotly  with  a  French  grenadier.  "  See, 
how  glib  he  jabbers  !  The  Frenchman^  can't  begin  to 
keep  up  with  him.     That  beats  you,  Sidorof !  " 

'*  Wait !  listen.  He  's  clever ! "  replied  Sidorof,  who  con- 
sidered himself  a  master  in  the  art  of  speaking  French. 

The  soldier  whom  the  jesters  were  remarking  was 
Dolokhof.  Prince  Andrei  recognized  him,  and  listened 
to  what  he  was  saying.  Dolokhof,  with  his  captain, 
had  gone  up  to  the  sentry  on  the  left  flank,  where  their 
regiment  was  stationed. 

'*  There,  once  more,  once  more,"  urged  the  captain, 
leaning  forward  and  trying  not  to  miss  a  word,  albeit  it 
was  perfectly  unintelligible  to  him !  "  Please  make 
haste  !     What  does  he  say  ?  " 

Dolokhof  did  not  answer  his  captain ;  he  had  got 
drawn  into  a  heated  disc-ussion  with  the  French  grena- 
dier. Naturally,  they  were  talking  about  the  campaign. 
The  Frenchman,  confusing  the  Austrians  with  the  Rus- 
sians, contended  that  it  was  the  Russians  who  had  sur- 
rendered and  run  away  from  Ulra.  Dolokhof  contended 
that  the  Russians  had  not  surrendered,  but  had  beaten 
the  French.  "  And  here,  if  they  tell  us  to  clear  you 
out,  we  will  do  it,"  said  Dolokhof. 

"  You  look  out  that  we  don't  take  you  and  all  your 
Cossacks  with  us,"  retorted  the  Frenchman. 

The  spectators  and  the  Frenchmen,  who  were  listen- 
ing, laughed. 

"We  '11  teach  you  to  dance  Russian  fashion,  as  we  did 
in  the  time  of  Suvorof,"  said  Dolokhof. 

"  What 's  that  tune  he  's  giving  us  ? "  asked  another 
Frenchman. 

"  Ancient  history,"  said  another,  perceiving  that  the 
reference  was  to  some  past  war.  *'  The  emperor  will 
teach  your  Soiivara,  the  same  as  he  has  taught  others." 

*'  Bonaparte,"  began  Dolokhof,  but  the  Frenchman 
interrupted  him  :  — 

"We  have  no  Bonaparte.  We  have  the  emperor! 
Sacre  nom  !  "  ....  cried  the  other,  excitedly. 

^  Khranisus  instead  of  Frantsus,  a  Frenchman. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  251 

"The  devil  skin  your  emperor!  " 

And  Dolokhof  began  to  pour  out  a  string  of  oaths,  in 
Russian  soldier  fashion,  and,  shouldering  his  musket, 
walked  off.  *'  Let  us  be  going,  Ivan  Lukitch,"  said  he 
to  his  captain. 

''  He  's  stopped  talking  French,"  cried  the  soldiers  in 
the  line.     "  Now  it 's  your  turn,  Sidorof  !  " 

Sidorof  winked,  and,  addressing  the  Frenchmen,  be- 
gan to  jabber  a  perfect  stream  of  meaningless  words: 
''  Kari,  mala^  tafa,  safi,  mutei\  kaskd,''  he  jabbered,  try- 
ing to  give  great  expression  to  the  inflexions  of  his  voice. 

"Ho!  ho!  ho!  ha!  ha!  ha!  ukh!  ukh! "  rang  among 
the  soldiers  with  such  a  hearty  and  jovial  laughter,  that 
the  Frenchmen  across  the  line  were  irresistibly  infected, 
and  one  would  have  thought,  after  this,  that  all  that  was 
necessary  was  for  them  all  to  fire  off  their  muskets,  ex- 
plode their  cartridges,  and  scatter  to  their  homes  as 
soon  as  possible ;  but  the  guns  remained  loaded,  the 
barbicans  in  the  huts  and  earthworks  looked  out  just  as 
threateningly  as  ever,  and  the  unlimbered  cannon  re- 
mained as  before,  pointing  at  each  other. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

After  riding  along  the  entire  line,  from  the  right 
flank  to  the  left,  Prince  Andrei"  made  his  way  to  the 
battery,  from  which,  according  to  the  staff-ofificer,  the 
whole  field  was  visible.  Here  he  dismounted  and  leaned 
against  the  last  one  of  four  unlimbered  field-pieces. 

An  artilleryman,  who  was  pacing  up  and  down  in 
front  of  the  guns,  as  sentry,  started  to  give  Prince 
Andrei  the  military  salute,  but  at  a  sign  desisted,  and 
once  more  began  his  monotonous,  tedious  march. 

Behind  the  guns  were  the  gun-carriages  ;  still  farther 
back  the  horses  were  picketed,  and  the  bivouac  fires  of 
the  gunners  were  burning.  At  the  left,  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  outermost  gun,  was  a  new,  wattled  hut, 
in  which  could  be  heard  the  lively  voices  of  officers, 
talking  together. 


252  WAR   AND    PEACE 

From  the  battery  was  really  disclosed  a  view  of  al- 
most all  the  disposition  of  the  Russian  forces,  and  of  a 
large  part  of  the  enemy's.  Directly  in  front  of  the  bat- 
tery, on  the  slope  of  another  hill,  lay  the  village  of 
Schongraben.  Farther,  both  to  the  left  and  to  the 
right,  could  be  distinguished  in  three  places,  through 
the  smoke  of  their  bivouac  fires,  the  masses  of  the 
French  troops,  the  greater  part  of  which  were  evidently 
stationed  in  the  village  itself,  and  behind  the  hill. 

At  the  left  of  the  village,  in  the  smoke,  something 
that  resembled  a  battery  could  be  made  out,  but  by  the 
naked  eye  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  it  clearly. 
The  Russian  right  flank  was  distributed  along  a  rather 
steep  elevation,  which  commanded  the  position  of  the 
French.  Here  were  stationed  the  Russian  infantry, 
and  at  the  very  end  could  be  seen  the  dragoons. 

In  the  center,  where  Tusnin's  battery  was  posted,  and 
where  Prince  Andrei  was  studying  the  lay  of  the  land, 
there  was  a  very  steep  and  direct  descent  and  approach 
to  a  brook  separating  the  Russians  from  Schongraben. 

At  the  left  of  the  Russian  position,  the  infantry  were 
engaged  in  cutting  wood  in  the  forest,  and  there  also 
arose  the  smoke  of  their  bivouac  fires. 

The  French  lines  were  much  more  extended  than  the 
Russians,  and  it  was  plain  that  the  French  could  easily 
outflank  them  on  both  sides.  Back  of  the  Russian  posi- 
tion was  a  steep  and  deep  ravine,  along  which  it  would 
be  difficult  for  artillery  or  cavalry  to  retreat. 

Prince  Andrei,  leaning  on  the  cannon,  took  out  a  note- 
book and  drew  a  plan  of  the  disposition  of  the  armies. 
At  two  places  he  indicated  with  a  pencil  certain  observa- 
tions to  which  he  intended  to  draw  Bagration's  attention. 
In  the  first  place,  it  was  his  idea  that  the  artillery  should 
be  concentrated  in  the  center,  and,  in  the  second  place, 
to  transfer  all  the  cavalry  to  the  other  side  of  the 
ravine. 

Prince  Andrei,  having  been  constantly  thrown  with 
the  commander-in-chief,  and  occupied  with  the  move- 
ments of  masses  and  general  arrangements,  and  having 
diligently  studied  descriptions  of  historical  engagements, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  253 

found  himself  involuntarily  trying  to  forecast  the  course 
of  the  action,  but  only  in  its  general  features.  He  im- 
agined that  the  engagement  would  probably  occur  some- 
what as  follows  :  — 

"  If  the  enemy  attack  the  right  flank,"  said  he  to  him- 
self, **  the  Kief  grenadiers  and  the  Podolian  jagers  will 
be  obliged  to  hold  their  position  until  the  reserves  from 
the  center  are  sent  to  their  aid.  In  this  case,  the 
dragoons  may  attack  the  flank  and  cut  them  to  pieces. 
In  case  the  attack  is  made  on  the  center,  we  must  place 
on  this  elevation  our  central  battery,  and  under  its  pro- 
tection we  can  draw  back  the  left  flank,  and  let  them 
retreat  down  the  ravine  en  echelon^ 

Thus  he  reflected. 

All  the  time  that  he  was  in  the  battery  by  the  cannon, 
he  had  constantly  heard  the  voices  of  the  officers,  talk- 
ing in  the  hut,  but,  as  often  happens,  he  had  not  noticed 
a  single  word  that  they  said.  Suddenly  he  was  so  struck 
by  the  note  of  sincerity  in  the  tone  of  their  voices,  that 
he  involuntarily  began  to  listen. 

*'  No,  my  dear,"  ^  said  a  pleasant  voice,  which  some- 
how seemed  very  familiar  to  Prince  Andrei.  "  I  say 
that  if  it  were  possible  to  know  what  was  to  be  after 
death,  then  none  of  us  would  have  any  fear  of  death. 
That's  so,  my  dear." 

Another  voice,  evidently  that  of  a  younger  man,  in- 
terrupted him  :  — 

'*  Well,  whether  we  're  afraid  of  it  or  not,  it 's  all  the 
same,  there  's  no  escaping  it." 

*'  But  all  men  are  afraid  of  it." 

"  Yes,  you  know  so  much,"  said  a  third  lusty  voice, 
breaking  in  upon  the  others.  "You  artillerymen  know 
so  much  because  you  can  take  with  you,  everywhere  you 
go,  your  tipples  of  vodka  and  your  rations." 

And  the  possessor  of  the  lusty  voice,  evidently  an 
infantry  officer,  laughed. 

**Yes,  all  men  are  afraid  of  it,"  continued  the  first 
familiar  voice.  "We  are  afraid  of  the  unknown;  that 's 
it.    It 's  no  use  saying  the  soul  goes  up  to  heaven  ;  why, 

1  Galubchik. 


254  WAR   AND    PEACE 

we  know  very  well  that  up  yonder  there  's  no  heaven, 
but  only  the  atmosphere." 

Again  the  lusty  voice  interrupted  the  artilleryman  :  — 

"  Come,  now,  Tushin,  let  us  have  some  of  your  trav- 
nik."i 

"  So  that  is  the  very  same  captain  that  was  at  the 
sutler's  tent,  in  his  stocking-feet,"  said  Prince  Andrei'  to 
himself,  glad  to  recognize  the  pleasant  voice  of  the 
philosopher. 

''The  travnik  you  can  have,"  said  Tushin,  "but  all  the 
same,  as  to  comprehending  the  life  to  come...." 

He  did  not  finish  his  sentence. 

At  that  instant  a  whizz  was  heard  in  the  air ;  nearer 
and  nearer,  swifter  and  louder,  louder  and  swifter,  and 
a  cannon-ball,  as  if  unable  to  say  all  that  it  wanted  to 
say,  plunged  into  the  earth  not  far  from  the  hut,  tearing 
up  the  ground  with  superhuman  violence. 

The  ground  seemed  to  groan  with  the  terrible  shock. 

In  a  moment  the  little  Tushin  came  running  out  of 
the  hut  ahead  of  the  others,  with  his  after-dinner  pipe 
at  the  side  of  his  mouth ;  his  kind,  intelligent  face  was 
rather  pale.  He  was  followed  by  the  possessor  of  the 
lusty  voice,  a  young  infantry  officer,  who  hurried  off  to 
his  company,  buttoning  his  coat  as  he  ran. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

Prince  Andrei  mounted  his  horse,  but  remained  in 
the  battery,  trying  to  distinguish,  by  the  smoke,  the  can- 
non that  had  sent  the  projectile.  His  eyes  wandered 
over  the  whole  landscape.  All  that  he  could  make  out 
was  that  the  till  now  motionless  masses  of  the  French 
were  beginning  to  stir,  and  that  there  really  was  a  battery 
at  the  left.  The  smoke  above  it  had  not  yet  dispersed. 
Two  French  riders,  apparently  aides,  were  spurring 
down  the  hill.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a  small  but 
clearly  distinguishable  column  of  the  enemy  were  mov- 
ing, evidently  for  the  purpose  of  strengthening  the  lines. 

1 A  strong  beer  made  of  herbs  (Jravui), 


WAR    AND    PEACE  255 

The  smoke  of  the  first  gun  had  not  blown  away  when 
another  puff  arose,  followed  by  the  report. 

The  action  had  begun. 

Prince  Andrei  turned  his  horse  and  galloped  back  to 
Grund,  to  find  Prince  Bagration.  Behind  him  he  heard 
the  cannonade,  growing  more  frequent  and  louder.  It 
was  plain  that  our  side  had  begun  to  reply.  Below,  in 
the  space  where  the  envoys  had  met,  musket-shots  were 
heard. 

Lemarrois,  with  Bonaparte's  angry  letter,  had  just 
dashed  up  to  Murat,  and  Murat,  ashamed  of  himself, 
and  anxious  to  retrieve  his  blunder,  had  immediately 
begun  to  move  his  army  against  the  center,  and  at  the 
same  time  around  both  flanks,  hoping,  before  night  and 
the  arrival  of  the  emperor,  to  demolish  the  insignificant 
division  that  opposed  him. 

"  It  has  begun  !  Here  it  is  !  "  said  Prince  Andrei  to 
himself,  feeling  his  heart  beat  more  violently.  '*  But 
where  —  how  shall  I  find  my  Toulon  .?" 

Riding  among  the  companies  which  had  been  eating 
their  kasha  gruel  and  drinking  vodka  only  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  before,  he  everywhere  found  the  soldiers  hastily 
moving  about,  getting  into  line,  and  examining  their  guns; 
on  all  faces  there  was*  the  same  feeling  of  expectancy  as 
he  had  in  his  heart. 

The  face  of  every  soldier  and  officer  seemed  to  say  :  '  // 
has  begtm!    Here  it  is!    How  terrible  !    How  glorious  !  ' 

Before  he  reached  the  unfinished  earthworks,  he  saw 
in  the  twilight  of  the  gloomy  autumn  day  some  horse- 
men riding  toward  him.  The  foremost,  in  a  felt  burka 
and  a  lamb's-wool  cap,  rode  a  white  horse.  This  was 
Prince  Bagration.  Prince  Andrei"  stopped  and  waited 
for  them.  Prince  Bagration  reined  in  his  horse,  and, 
recognizing  Prince  Andrei,  nodded  to  him.  He  kept 
his  eyes  straight  ahead  all  the  time,  while  Prince  Andrei' 
was  reporting  to  him  what  he  had  seen.  The  thought, 
it  has  begun ;  here  it  is  !  could  also  be  read  on  Bagration 's 
strong,  brown  face  with  the  half-closed,  dull  eyes,  that 
seemed  to  show  the  lack  of  sleep.  Prince  Andrei,  with 
uneasy  curiosity  looked  into  his  impassive  face,  and  tried 


2s6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

to  read  whether  he  had  any  thoughts  or  feelings,  and  if 
so,  what  the  thoughts  and  feehngs  of  this  man  were  at 
this  moment.  "  Is  there  anything  remarkable  behind 
that  impassive  face  ?  " 

Prince  Bagration  nodded  his  head  in  approval  of  what 
Prince  Andref  reported,  and  said,  *'  Good  !  "  as  if  all  that 
had  taken  place  and  all  that  he  heard  was  exactly  what 
he  had  already  anticipated.  Prince  Andrei,  all  out  of 
breath  from  his  swift  gallop,  spoke  hurriedly.  Prince 
Bagration  pronounced  his  words  with  his  Eastern  accent, 
and  with  especial  deliberation,  as  if  to  give  the  impres- 
sion that  there  was  no  haste.  However,  he  put  his  horse 
to  the  trot  in  the  direction  of  Tushin's  battery. 

Prince  Andrei  and  his  suite  followed  him.  His  suite 
consisted  of  an  attache,  Zherkof,  the  prince's  personal 
aide,  an  orderly,  the  staff-officer  of  the  day  on  a  hand- 
some English  cob,  and  a  civil  chinovnik  serving  as  audi- 
tor, who,  out  of  curiosity,  had  asked  permission  to  come 
out  to  the  battle.  The  auditor,  a  fat  man  with  a  fat  face, 
with  a  naive  smile  of  delight,  glanced  around,  as  he 
jolted  on  his  horse,  presenting  a  strange  figure,  in  his 
camelot  cloak  on  a  pack-saddle,  among  the  hussars, 
Cossacks,  and  aides. 

"This  man  here  w^anted  to  see  a  battle,"  said  Zherkof 
to  Bolkonsky,  pointing  to  the  auditor.  *'  Why,  he  's  got 
a  pain  in  the  pit  of  his  stomach  already!  " 

*'  Come,  now,  that  '11  do,"  exclaimed  the  auditor  with  a 
radiant,  naive  and  at  the  same  time  shrewd  smile,  as  if  he 
enjoyed  being  made  the  butt  of  Zherkof's  jokes,  and  as 
if  he  purposely  made  himself  out  to  be  duller  than  he 
really  was. 

"  Tres  dro/e,  nion  monsieur  prince  y'  said  the  staff-offi- 
cer of  the  day.  He  remembered  that  in  French  there 
w^as  some  peculiar  way  of  speaking  the  title  of  prince, 
but  he  could  not  get  it  quite  right. 

By  this  time  they  had  all  reached  Tushin's  battery ; 
a  cannon-ball  fell  a  short  distance  in  front  of  them. 

**  What  was  that  fell  t "  asked  the  auditor,  with  his 
naive  smile. 

**  French  pancakes,"  replied  Zherkof. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  257 

"Such  things  kill,  I  suppose?"  mused  the  auditor. 
**  How  shocking!"  And  it  was  evident  that  he  took 
great  delight  in  witnessing  the  whole  scene. 

The  words  were  hardly  out  of  his  mouth,  when  again 
unexpectedly  came  the  same  terrible  whistle,  interrupted 
suddenly  by  striking  into  something  alive,  and  with  a 
strange  thud  a  Cossack,  riding  only  a  few  steps  behind, 
and  at  the  right,  plunged  off  his  horse  to  the  ground. 
Zherkof  and  the  staff-officer  of  the  day  crouched  down 
in  their  saddles,  and  drew  their  horses  to  one  side.  The 
auditor  reined  up  near  the  Cossack,  and  looked  at  him 
with  eager  curiosity.  The  Cossack  was  dead,  the  horse 
was  still  struggling. 

Prince  Bagration,  blinking  his  eyes,  glanced  around 
and,  seeing  the  cause  of  the  confusion,  turned  his  head 
again  indifferently,  as  much  as  to  say :  *  It  isn't  worth 
while  to  bother  with  trifles.'  He  reined  in  his  horse 
with  the  skill  of  a  good  rider,  bent  over  a  trifle,  and 
adjusted  his  sword,  which  had  got  entangled  in  his 
burka.  The  sword  was  an  old  one,  unlike  those  worn 
at  the  present  time.  Prince  Andrei  remembered  having 
heard  it  said  that  Suvorof  had  given  his  sword  to  Bagra- 
tion in  Italy,  and  this  recollection  was  peculiarly  agree- 
able to  him  at  this  time. 

They  reached  the  very  same  battery  where  Bolkonsky 
had  been  when  he  made  his  reconnoissance  of  the  battle- 
field. 

"  Whose  company  ? "  asked  Prince  Bagration  of  the 
gunner  who  was  standing  by  the  caissons. 

He  asked,  ''Whose  company,"  but  his  question  seemed 
really  to  imply  :  '  Are  n't  you  all  frightened,  you  men 
here  ? '     And  the  gunner  understood  it  so. 

"  Captain  Tushin's,  your  excellency,"  cried  thefreckled, 
red-headed  gunner,  in  a  jocund  voice,  and  saluting. 

**  So,  so,"  exclaimed  Bagration  absent-mindedly,  and 
he  passed  by  the  limbers  toward  the  last  gun.  Just  as 
he  reached  it,  this  cannon  rang  out,  with  a  report  which 
deafened  Bagration  and  his  suite,  and  in  the  smoke  that 
spread  round  could  be  seen  the  gunners,  seizing  the 
cannon  and  slowly  bringing  it  back  to  its  first  place. 


258  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Gunner  number  one,  a  huge  soldier  with  broad  shoulders, 
holding  the  sponge,  leaped  back  with  a  long  stride  to 
the  wheel,  and  number  two,  with  trembling  hand,  forced 
the  charge  down  the  muzzle.  A  little  round-shouldered 
man,  the  officer  Tushin,  stumbling  over  the  tail  of  the 
carriage,  hastened  forward,  without  heeding  the  general, 
and  gazed  into  the  distance  from  under  his  small  hand. 

"Raise  it  two  lines  more;  there,  there!  that'll  do," 
he  cried,  in  his  little,  thin  voice,  to  which  he  tried  to 
impart  a  vigor  ill-suiting  his  stature.  "  Number  two  !  " 
he  whined.     "  Let  'em  have  it,  Medvyedef  !  " 

Bagration  beckoned  to  the  officer,  and  Tushin,  with 
an  awkward  and  timid  gesture,  absolutely  unlike  those 
used  by  military  men,  and  more  like  a  priest  when  giving 
a  blessing,  raised  three  fingers  to  his  visor  and  went  to 
the  general.  Although  it  had  been  intended  for  Tushin's 
field-pieces  to  sweep  the  valley,  he  had  begun  to  send 
red-hot  balls  at  the  village  of  Schongraben,  in  front  of 
which  heavy  masses  of  the  French  could  be  seen  con- 
centrating. 

No  one  had  directed  Tushin  where  and  how  to  fire, 
and  so,  having  consulted  with  his  sergeant  Zakharchenko, 
in  whom  he  had  great  confidence,  he  decided  that  it  would 
be  a  good  plan  to  set  the  village  on  fire. 

"  Good,"  said  Bagration,  in  reply  to  the  officer's 
scheme,  and  then  began  to  scan  the  field  of  battle 
before  him,  and  seemed  to  be  lost  in  thought. 

On  the  right,  in  the  foreground,  the  French  were 
advancing.  Below  the  height  on  which  the  Kief  regi- 
ment was  stationed,  in  the  ravine  through  which  flowed 
the  brook,  could  be  heard  the  soul-stirring  roll  and  rattle 
of  musketry,  and,  just  at  the  right,  the  attache  pointed 
out  to  the  prince  the  column  of  the  French  trying  to 
outflank  the  Russian  wing.  At  the  left,  the  horizon 
was  bounded  by  dense  forest. 

Prince  Bagration  ordered  two  battalions  from  the 
center  to  strengthen  the  right  wing.  The  attache 
ventured  to  remark  to  the  prince  that,  if  these  battal- 
ions were  withdrawn,  the  artillery  would  be  uncovered. 
Prince    Bagration    turned  to   the   attache   and  without 


WAR   AND    PEACE  259 

replying  looked  at  him  through  his  lifeless  eyes.  It 
seemed  to  Prince  Andrei  that  the  attache's  criticism 
was  correct,  and  that  in  fact  no  reply  could  be  made 
to  it.  But  at  this  instant  an  aide  came  galloping  up 
from  the  regimental  commander  who  was  in  the  valley, 
with  the  report  that  overwhelming  masses  of  the  French 
were  marching  down  upon  them,  and  that  his  regiment 
was  demoralized,  and  was  falling  back  upon  the  Kief 
grenadiers.  Prince  Bagration  inclined  his  head  in  token 
of  assent  and  approval.  He  walked  slowly  toward  the 
right,  and  then  sent  the  aide  to  order  the  dragoons  to 
charge  the  French.  But,  after  the  aide  had  been  gone 
half  an  hour  with  this  order,  he  returned  with  the  report 
that  the  commander  of  the  dragoon  regiment  had  retired 
to  the  other  side  of  the  ravine,  so  as  to  escape  the  de- 
structive fire  brought  to  bear  upon  him  and  to  avoid 
useless  loss  of  life,  and  therefore  he  had  despatched 
sharpshooters  into  the  woods.     "  Good,"  said  Bagration. 

Just  as  he  was  leaving  the  battery,  at  the  left  also, 
the  reports  of  rifles  in  the  forest  began  to  be  heard,  and 
as  it  was  too  far  for  him  to  reach  the  left  wing  in  time. 
Prince  Bagration  sent  Zherkof  thither  to  tell  the  old 
general  —  the  very  one  who  had  exhibited  his  regiment 
before  Kutuzof  at  Braunau  —  to  retreat  as  soon  as 
possible  to  the  other  side  of  the  ravine,  since,  probably, 
the  right  wing  would  not  be  strong  enough  to  withstand 
the  enemy  any  length  of  time.  Tushin  and  the  battalion 
covering  him  were  quite  forgotten. 

Prince  Andrei  listened  attentively  to  Prince  Bagra- 
tion's  conversation  with  his  subordinates,  and  to  the 
orders  that  he  issued,  and  to  his  amazement  discovered 
that  in  reality  he  did  not  give  any  orders  at  all,  but  that 
the  prince  only  tried  to  give  the  impression  that  all  that 
was  done  by  his  various  officers  either  through  neces- 
sity, chance,  or  volition,  was  done,  if  not  exactly  by  his 
orders,  at 'all  events  in  accordance  with  his  design. 
Prince  Andrei  noticed  that,  owing  to  the  tact  displayed 
by  Prince  Bagration,  in  spite  of  the  fortuitousness  of 
events  and  their  absolute  independence  of  the  general's 
will,  his  presence  was  of  great  importance.     The  sub- 


26o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

ordinates,  with  distracted  faces,  who  kept  galloping  up 
to  the  prince,  instantly  became  calm ;  soldiers  and 
officers  received  him  with  enthusiasm,  and  were  ani- 
mated by  his  presence  and  evidently  took  pride  in  dis- 
playing their  courage. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

Prince  Bagration,  having  ridden  up  to  the  highest 
point  of  the  Russian  right  flank,  began  to  make  the  de- 
scent, toward  a  spot  where  the  continual  rattle  of  mus- 
ketry was  heard  and  nothing  could  be  seen  through 
the  gunpowder  smoke.  The  nearer  they  approached  the 
valley,  the  less  they  could  see  what  was  going  on,  but  the 
more  evident  it  became  that  they  were  near  an  actual 
battle-field.  They  began  to  meet  with  wounded.  One 
man,  with  a  bleeding  head,  and  without  his  cap,  was 
being  dragged  along  in  the  arms  of  two  soldiers.  He 
was  gurgling  and  spitting.  The  bullet  had  apparently 
entered  his  mouth  or  throat.  Another  whom  they  met 
was  stoutly  marching  off  by  himself,  without  his  mus- 
ket, groaning  loudly  and  shaking  his  injured  hand  with 
the  keenness  of  the  smart,  while  the  blood  was  slowly 
dripping  down  on  his  cloak.  His  face  appeared  more 
frightened  than  hurt.  He  had  only  just  been  wounded. 
Crossing  the  road,  they  rode  down  a  steep  incline  and 
on  the  slope  they  saw  a  number  of  men  lying;  then 
they  met  a  crowd  of  soldiers,  none  of  whom  were 
wounded.  These  soldiers  were  hurrying  up  the  slope, 
breathing  heavily,  and  though  they  saw  the  general  they 
were  talking  in  loud  voices  and  gesticulating. 

Farther  forward  in  the  smoke  could  now  be  seen  the 
ranks  of  gray  cloaks,  and  an  officer,  recognizing  Bagra- 
tion, dashed  after  the  retreating  throng  of  men,  shout- 
ing to  them  to  return.  Bagration  rode  up  to  the  lines, 
along  which,  here  and  there,  could  be  heard  the  swift 
cracking  of  musket-shots,  suppressed  remarks,  and  the 
shouts  of  command.  The  whole  atmosphere  was  dense 
with  gunpowder  smoke.     The  faces  of  all  the  soldiers 


WAR   AND    PEACE  261 

were  blackened  with  powder,  and  full  of  animation. 
Some  were  ramming  the  charge  home,  others  putting 
powder  in  the  pan,  or  taking  wads  from  their  pouches ; 
still  others  were  firing.  But  it  was  impossible  to  make 
out  what  they  were  aiming  at 'through  the  dense  cloud 
of  smoke  which  hung  in  the  motionless  air.  Quite 
often  could  be  heard  the  pleasant  sounds  of  buzzing 
and  whistHng  bullets. 

"What  does  this  mean.?"  Prince  Andrei  asked  him- 
self, as  he  rode  up  to  this  throng  of  soldiers.  "  It  can- 
not be  a  charge,  because  they  are  not  moving ;  it  cannot 
be  a  square,  for  that  is  not  the  way  they  form." 

The  regimental  commander,  a  rather  spare,  slender 
old  man,  with  eyelids  which  more  than  half  concealed 
his  aged-looking  eyes,  giving  him  a  benignant  aspect, 
rode  up  toward  Prince  Bagration  with  a  pleasant  smile, 
and  received  him  as  a  host  receives  a  welcome  guest. 
He  explained  to  Prince  Bagration  that  the  French  had 
made  a  cavalry  charge  against  his  regiment ;  but  that, 
though  the  charge  had  been  repelled,  it  had  cost  him 
half  of  his  men.  The  regimental  commander  declared 
that  the  charge  had  been  repulsed,  meaning  to  express, 
by  this  military  term,  what  had  happened  to  his  forces; 
but  in  reality  he  himself  did  not  know  what  had  taken 
place  during  the  preceding  half-hour,  in  the  army  en- 
trusted to  his  command,  and  was  unable  to  say  with 
absolute  certainty  whether  the  charge  had  been  repulsed 
or  whether  his  regiment  had  been  worsted  in  the  attack. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  engagement  he  simply  knew 
this :  that  along  his  whole  line,  cannon-balls  and  shells 
began  to  fly  and  to  kill  his  men,  that  next,  some  one  had 
cried  **The  cavalry!"  and  our  men  had  begun  to  fire. 
And  they  had  been  firing  till  that  time,  not  at  the 
cavalry,  which  was  out  of  sight,  but  at  the  French 
infantry  showing  themselves  in  the  valley  and  shooting 
down  our  men. 

Prince  Bagration  inclined  his  head,  to  signify  that  this 
was  just  as  he  had  wished  and  anticipated.  Turning  to 
his  aide,  he  ordered  him  to  bring  down  from  the  hill  the 
two  battalions  of  the  Sixth  Jagers,  which  they  had  just 


262  WAR   AND    PEACE 

ridden  past.  At  this  moment  Prince  Andrei  was  struck 
by  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  Bagration's 
face.  It  expressed  that  concentrated  and  joyful  resolu- 
tion which  is  shown  by  a  man  ready  on  a  hot  day  to 
leap  into  the  water,  and*  who  is  taking  the  final  run. 
That  impression  of  dullness  and  lethargy  covering  a  pre- 
tense of  deep  thoughts  had  vanished  quite  away.  His 
hawk's  eyes,  round  and  determined,  looked  straight 
ahead  with  an  enthusiastic  and  rather  contemptuous 
expression,  and  wandered  restlessly  from  one  object  to 
another,  although  his  motions  were  as  slow  and  deliber- 
ate as  before. 

The  regimental  commander  turned  to  Prince  Bagra- 
tion,  and  begged  him  to  retire  to  the  rear,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  very  perilous  where  they  were.  "  Please,  your 
illustriousness,  for  God's  sake,"  said  he,  looking  for 
confirmation  to  the  attache,  who  was  turning  away  from 
him.     ''Be  kind  enough  to  notice." 

He  was  calling  his  attention  to  the  bullets  which  were 
constantly  whizzing,  singing,  and  whistling  around  them. 
He  spoke  in  a  questioning,  reproachful  tone,  such  as  a 
joiner  might  use  to  a  gentleman  trying  to  use  an  ax : 
"  This  is  our  work  and  we  're  used  to  it,  but  you  will 
callous  your  dainty  hands."  He  spoke  as  if  there  was 
no  possibility  of  these  bullets  killing  him,  and  his  half- 
closed  eyes  gave  his  words  a  still  more  persuasive  effect. 

The  staff-officer  joined  his  entreaties  to  those  of  the 
regimental  commander,  but  Prince  Bagration  did  not 
deign  to  answer  him,  and  merely  gave  his  orders  to 
have  the  men  cease  firing  and  to  open  ranks  so  as  to 
give  room  for  the  two  battalions  that  w^ere  on  their  way 
to  join  them.  Just  as  he  issued  his  command,  a  breeze 
sprang  up  and  the  canopy  of  smoke  which  covered  the 
valley  from  right  to  left  was  lifted  as  if  by  an  invisible 
hand,  and  the  opposite  height,  with  the  French  march- 
ing down,  was  brought  into  full  view.  All  eyes  were 
involuntarily  fixed  on  this  column  of  the  enemy  moving 
toward  them,  and  winding  like  a  serpent  down  the  es- 
carpment of  the  hill.  Already,  the  soldiers'  bearskin 
shakoes  could  be  seen ;  already,  the  officers  could  be  dis- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  263 

tinguished  from  the  ranks,  and  their  banner,  as  it  clung 
around  the  staff. 

"  They  march  superbly,"  said  some  one  in  Bagration's 
.suite. 

The  head  of  the  column  was  now  just  entering  the 
valley.  The  collision  would  necessarily  take  place  on 
this  side  of  the  ravine 

The  remains  of  the  regiment  that  had  been  in  the 
action  before  hastily  reformed  and  went  toward  the 
right ;  behind  them,  driving  in  the  stragglers,  came 
the  two  battalions  of  the  Sixth  Jagers,  in  good  order. 
They  had  not  yet  reached  the  position  where  Bagration 
was,  but  their  heavy,  measured  step  could  be  heard,  as 
the  whole  body  kept  perfect  time.  On  the  left  wing, 
nearest  of  all  to  Bagration,  marched  the  company  com- 
mander, a  round-faced,  stately  man,  with  a  stupid, 
happy  expression  of  face.  He  was  the  very  man  that 
had  been  in  Tushin's  hut.  It  was  evident  that  his  only 
thought  at  this  moment  was  that  he  was  marching 
bravely  past  his  superiors. 

With  the  self-satisfaction  of  one  attracting  notice,  he 
marched  by  lightly  on  his  muscular  legs ;  he  almost 
seemed  to  fly,  without  the  slightest  effort  keeping  his 
back  straight,  and  distinguishing  himself  by  his  grace 
from  the  heavy  march  of  the  men  who  pressed  on  in 
step  with  him. 

He  held  down  by  his  leg  a  slender,  delicate  sword, 
unsheathed,  a  sort  of  curving  simitar,  not  like  a 
weapon,  and  looking  now  at  the  commander,  now  back 
at  his  men,  not  once  losing  step,  he  gallantly  hastened 
on,  with  all  the  energy  of  his  gigantic  frame.  It  seemed 
as  if  al]  the  strength  of  his  mind  were  directed  toward 
going  past  his  commander  in  the  best  possible  form; 
being  conscious  that  he  was  doing  this,  he  was  happy. 
Left  !. ...left  !  ....left !  ....  It  seemed  as  if  he  said  this 
inwardly  at  every  instant,  and,  taking  the  same  step, 
the  wall  of  soldiers  marched  by  with  heavy  knapsacks 
and  equipment,  as  if  each  one  of  these  hundreds  of  dif- 
ferent soldiers,  with  their  grave  faces,  said  to  himself  in 
thought,  left!  ....left!  ....left! .... 


264  WAR   AND    PEACE 

A  stout  major  had  to  turn  out,  puffing,  and  losing  step, 
for  a  bush  which  was  in  his  way;  a  straggler,  gasp, 
ing  for  breath,  his  face  expressing  terror  at  his  being 
out  of  his  place,  came  at  a  double-quick  to  overtake  his 
company ;  a  cannon-ball,  condensing  the  air  before  it, 
flew  over  the  heads  of  Bagration  and  his  suite,  and, 
accenting  the  beat,  left !  ....  left !  ....  plunged  through  the 
column. 

**  Close  up  the  ranks!  "  rang  the  intrepid  voice  of  the 
company  commander.  The  soldiers  made  a  bend  around 
the  place  where  the  shot  had  made  the  gap;  an  old 
cavalryman,  a  non-commissioned  officer,  who  had  re- 
mained behind  to  care  for  the  wounded,  regained  the 
ranks,  with  a  hop  and  a  skip  fell  into  step,  and  looked 
around  sternly.  Left  I ....  left ! ....  left  f  ....  seemed  to  re- 
sound from  the  threatening  silence,  and  from  the  monot- 
onous trampling  of  feet  beating  simultaneously  on  the 
ground. 

"  Keep  up  your  courage,  boys  !  "  said  Prince  Bagration. 

"  Glad-ad-ad,"  1  ran  the  reply  down  the  line.  A 
morose-looking  soldier,  as  he  passed  at  the  left,  shouting 
at  the  top  of  his  voice,  turned  his  eyes  on  Bagratian, 
his  expression  seeming  to  say,  'We  know';  another, 
not  looking  up,  and  evidently  afraid  of  having  his 
attention  distracted,  with  wide-open  mouth,  shouted  and 
went  by. 

The  command  was  given  to  halt  and  unstrap  knap- 
sacks. 

Bagration  rode  up  to  the  ranks  that  had  just  marched 
past  him,  and  got  down  from  his  horse.  He  gave  the 
bridle  to  a  Cossack,  took  off  his  burka  and  handed  it  to 
him,  stretched  his  legs,  and  adjusted  his  leather  cap  on 
his  head.  The  head  of  the  French  column,  with  offi- 
cers at  the  front,  now  appeared  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

"5  Bogom  !  —  God  be  with  you  !  "  shouted  Bagration, 
in  a  firm,  loud,  ringing  voice,  and  instantly  taking  the 
lead,  and  lightly  waving  his  arm,  led  them  himself,  with 
the  awkward  and  apparently  laborious  gait  of  a  cavalry- 
man, across  the  first  half  of  the  field.     Prince  Andrei 

1  Glad  of  the  trouble. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  265 

felt  as  if  some  irresistible  impulse  dragged  him  forward, 
and  he  experienced  a  great  sense  of  happiness.^ 

Already  the  French  were  near  at  hand,  already 
Prince  Andrei,  rushing  on  side  by  side  with  Bagration, 
saw  the  belts,  the  red  epaulets,  even  the  faces  of  the 
French.  (He  clearly  distinguished  one  elderly  French 
officer,  who,  with  feet  turned  out  and  wearing  gaiters, 
was  struggling  up  the  hill.) 

Prince  Bagration  gave  no  new  orders,  and  marched 
on  in  silence  at  the  head  of  his  forces.  Suddenly,  from 
among  the  French,  rang  out  one  discharge,  then  a 
second,  a  third!  and  along  the  whole  extent  of  the 
enemy's  lines  spread  smoke  and  the  rattle  of  musketry. 
A  few  of  the  Russians  fell ;  in  the  number,  that  round- 
faced  officer  who  had  marched  by  so  gallantly  and  in 
such  good  form.  But  at  the  very  instant  that  the  first 
discharge  had  taken  place,  Bagration  turned  round  and 
shouted  "hurrah." 

"  Hurrah-ah-ah,"  rang  in  a  protracted  yell  down  the 
line,  and,  outstripping  Bagration  and  one  another,  in  a 
broken  but  joyous  and  animated  line,  the  Russians 
dashed  down  the  slope  after  the  enemy,  who  had  given 
way, 

CHAPTER   XIX 

The  charge  of  the  Sixth  Jagers  secured  the  retreat  of 
the  right  wing.  In  the  center,  the  action  of  Tushin's 
forgotten  battery,  which  had  succeeded  in  setting  the 
village  of  Schongraben  on  fire,  retarded  the  advance  of 
the  French.  They  stopped  to  put  out  the  conflagration, 
which  the  wind  was  spreading,  and  thus  gave  time  to 
retreat.      The   retirement    of   the    center   through    the 

1  Here  followed  that  charge  of  which  Taine  says:  "The  Russians  be- 
haved gallantly,  and,  a  rare  thing  in  war,  two  masses  of  infantry  were  seen 
marching  resolutely  against  each  other,  neither  giving  way  before  they 
came  within  reach  of  each  other.  (^Les  Riisses  se  conduiserent  vailla?nent^ 
et  chose  rare  a  la  guerre  on  vit  deux  masses  d'infanterie  fnarc/ier  resolu- 
ment  Vune  centre  P autre  sans  qu^aucune  des  deux  ceda  avant  d'' Hrt 
aborde.y  And  Napoleon  said  at  Saint  Helena :  "  Quelques  batailloni 
russes  montrerent  de  Pintrepidite.''—  Author's  Note. 


266  WAR    AND    PEACE 

ravine  was  accomplished  hastily  and  noisily,  but  there 
was  no  sign  of  demoralization. 

But  the  left  wing,  consisting  of  the  infantry  of  the 
Azof  and  Podolian  regiments,  and  the  Pavlograd  hus- 
sars, which  was  attacked  simultaneously,  and  outflanked 
by  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  French,  under  the 
command  of  Lannes,  was  defeated. 

Bagration  had  sent  Zherkhof  to  the  general  in  com- 
mand of  the  left  wing,  with  orders  to  retreat  slowly. 
Zherkof,  raising  his  hand  to  his  cap,  struck  spurs  into 
his  horse  and  swiftly  dashed  off.  But  he  had  not  more 
than  got  out  of  Bagration's  sight  than  his  courage  began 
to  fail  him.  Irresistible  fear  came  over  him,  and  he 
could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  go  where  it  seemed  to 
him  so  perilous. 

He  rode  over  to  the  army  of  the  left  wing,  but  he  did 
not  dare  press  forward  to  the  front,  where  there  was 
firing,  and  he  began  to  search  for  the  general  and  the 
officers  where  there  was  no  possibility  of  finding  them, 
and  therefore  the  order  was  not  delivered. 

The  command  of  the  left  wing  fell  by  order  of  senior- 
ity to  the  regimental  commander  of  that  same  brigade 
which  had  been  reviewed  at  Braunau  by  Kutuzof,  and 
in  which  Dolokhof  served  as  a  private.  The  command 
of  the  extreme  left  wing  was  intrusted  to  the  colonel  of 
the  Pavlograd  regiment,  in  which  Rostof  served.  This 
led  to  a  serious  misunderstanding.  The  two  comman- 
ders had  become  involved  in  a  violent  quarrel,  and  at  the 
very  time  when  the  right  wing  was  in  the  thick  of  the 
battle,  and  the  French  had  already  begun  to  retreat, 
the  two  commanders  were  absorbed  in  a  dispute,  each 
doing  his  best  to  affront  the  other. 

The  troops,  both  infantry  and  cavalry,  were  very  far 
from  being  prepared  for  the  work  before  them.  The 
men,  from  private  to  general,  were  not  expecting  an 
engagement,  and  were  calmly  occupying  themselves 
with  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  peace,  —  the  cavalrymen 
engaged  in  feeding  their  horses,  the  infantry  in  collect- 
ing firewood. 

'*  He  's   my  senior,   however,  in   rank,"  the  German 


WAR    AND    PEACE  267 

colonel  of  hussars  was  saying,  flushing  and  addressing 
the  aide  who  had  just  ridden  up  to  him,  "  so  let  him  do 
as  he  pleases.  I  cannot  sacrifice  my  hussars.  Bugler, 
sound  the  retreat !  " 

But  the  battle  came  upon  them  in  hot  haste.  Can- 
nonade and  musketry,  all  in  confusion,  thundered  and 
rattled  at  their  right  and  center,  and  the  capotes  of 
Lannes's  sharpshooters  were  already  crossing  the  mill- 
dam  and  forming  on  this  side,  two  gunshots  away.  The 
infantry  general,  with  his  tottering  gait,  went  to  his 
horse,  and,  mounting  and  drawing  himself  up  very 
straight  and  tall,  rode  off  to  the  Pavlograd  commander. 
The  two  men  met  with  polite  bows,  and  with  concealed 
hatred  in  their  hearts. 

''Once  for  all,  colonel,"  said  the  general,  *' I  cannot 
leave  half  of  my  men  in  the  woods.  I  beg  of  you,  I 
really  beg  of  you,"  he  repeated  the  word,  "  to  draw  up 
in  position,  and  meet  the  charge." 

"  I  beg  of  you  not  to  meddle  in  what  does  not  con- 
cern you,"  replied  the  colonel,  angrily.  "  If  you  were  a 
cavalryman ....  " 

"  I  am  not  a  cavalryman,  colonel,  but  I  am  a  Russian 
general,  and  if  you  don't  know  this....  " 

"  I  know  it  very  well,  your  excellency,"  cried  the 
colonel,  suddenly  starting  up  his  horse  and  turning 
purple  with  rage.  "  Would  n't  you  like  to  come  to  the 
line,  and  then  you  can  see  that  this  position  is  as  bad 
as  it  could  be  ?  I  do  not  care  to  destroy  my  regiment 
for  your  gratification." 

"  You  forget  yourself,  colonel.  I  am  not  seeking  my 
own  gratification,  and  I  will  not  permit  this  to  be  said." 

The  general,  accepting  the  colonel's  invitation  as  a 
challenge  of  courage,  swelled  out  his  chest,  and,  frown- 
ing, rode  forward  with  him  in  the  direction  of  the  out- 
posts, as  if  all  their  dispute  were  to  be  settled  there,  at 
the  front,  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy.  They  reached 
the  outposts  ;  a  few  bullets  flew  over  them,  and  they 
paused  and  were  silent.  There  was  no  reason  for  in- 
specting the  outposts,  since,  from  the  place  where  they 
had  been  before,  it  was  perfectly  evident  that  there  was 


268  WAR   AND    PEACE 

no  chance  for  cavalry  to  manoeuver  among  the  bushes 
and  gullies,  and  that  the  French  were  outflanking  the 
left  wing. 

The  general  and  colonel  looked  at  each  other  with 
fierce  and  significant  eyes,  like  two  game-cocks  all  ready 
for  battle,  and  each  waited  vainly  for  the  other  to  show 
sign  of  cowardice.  Both  stood  the  test.  As  there  was 
nothing  for  them  to  say,  and  as  neither  wished  to  give 
the  other  a  chance  to  assert  that  he  had  been  the  first 
to  retire  from  exposure  to  the  enemy's  fire,  they  would 
have  stood  there  a  long  time,  each  manifesting  his 
bravado,  if  at  this  time  they  had  not  heard  in  the 
forest,  almost  directly  behind  them,  the  crackling  of 
musketry  and  a  dull,  confused  yell. 

The  French  had  fallen  on  the  soldiery  scattered 
through  the  forest  gathering  firewood.  It  was  now  im- 
possible for  the  hussars  to  retreat  at  the  same  time  with 
the  infantry.  They  were  already  cut  off  by  the  French 
line  at  the  left.  Now,  although  the  locality  was  most 
unpropitious,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  fight  their 
way  through  to  reach  the  road  beyond. 

The  squadron  in  which  Rostof  served  had  barely 
time  to  mount  their  horses,  before  they  found  them- 
selves face  to  face  with  the  enemy.  Again,  as  at  the 
bridge  over  the  Enns,  between  the  squadron  and  the 
line  of  the  enemy  there  was  no  one,  and  between  them 
lay  that  terrible  gap  of  the  unknown  and  the  dreadful, 
like  the  bourn  that  divides  the  living  from  the  dead. 
All  the  men  felt  conscious  of  that  gap,  and  were  occu- 
pied by  the  question  whether  they  should  pass  beyond 
it  or  not,  and  how  they  should  cross  it. 

The  colonel  came  galloping  along  the  front,  and  an- 
grily replied  to  the  questions  of  his  officers,  and,  like  a 
man  who  in  despair  insists  on  his  own  way,  thundered 
out  some  command.  No  one  said  anything  definitely, 
but  something  had  given  the  squadron  an  idea  that 
there  was  to  be  a  charge.  The  command  to  fall  in  was 
given,  then  sabers  were  drawn  with  a  clash.  But  as 
yet  no  one  stirred.  The  army  of  the  left  wing  and  the 
infantry  and  the  hussars  felt  that  their  leaders  did  not 


WAR   AND    PEACE  269 

know  what  to  do,  and  the  indecision  of  the  commanders 
communicated  itself  to  the  soldiers. 

*'  If  they  would  only  hurry,  hurry,"  thought  Rostof, 
feeling  that  at  last  the  time  was  at  hand  for  participat- 
ing in  the  intoxication  of  a  charge  of  which  he  had 
heard  so  much  from  his  comrades,  the  hussars. 

**  vS  Bogoni  !  Fohwahd,  children,"  rang  out  Denisof  s 
voice,  "  twot !  " 

In  the  front  rank,  the  haunches  of  the  horses  began 
to  rise  and  fall.  Grachik  began  to  pull  on  the  reins, 
and  dashed  ahead.  At  the  right,  Rostof  could  see  the 
forward  ranks  of  his  hussars,  but  farther  in  front  there 
was  a  dark  streak,  which  he  could  not  make  out  dis- 
tinctly, but  supposed  to  be  the  enemy.  Reports  were 
heard,  but  in  the  distance. 

*'  Charge  !  "  rang  the  command,  and  Rostof  felt  how 
his  Grachik  broke  into  a  gallop  and  seemed  to  strain 
every  nerve.  He  realized  that  his  division  was  dashing 
forward  and  it  became  more  and  more  exciting  to  him. 
He  noticed  a  solitary  tree  just  abreast  of  him.  At  first 
this  tree  had  been  in  front  of  him,  in  the  very  center  of 
that  line  which  seemed  so  terrible.  But  now  he  had 
passed  beyond  it  and  there  was  not  only  nothing  terrible 
about  it,  but  everything  seemed  ever  more  and  more 
jolly  and  lively. 

"  Okh !  how  I  will  slash  at  them !  "  thought  Rostof, 
as  he  grasped  the  handle  of  his  saber. 

'*  Hurrah-ah-ah-ah !  "  rang  the  cheers  in  the  distance. 

"  Now  let  us  be  at  them  if  ever,"  thought  Rostof, 
striking  the  spurs  into  Grachik;  and,  overtaking  the 
others,  he  urged  him  to  the  top  of  his  speed.  The 
enemy  were  already  in  sight  before  him.  Suddenly, 
something  like  an  enormous  lash  cracked  all  along  the 
squadron.  Rostof  raised  his  saber,  in  readiness  to 
strike,  but  just  at  that  instant  Nikitenko,  a  hussar  gal- 
loping in  front  of  him,  swerved  aside  from  him,  and 
Rostof  felt,  as  in  a  dream,  that  he  was  being  carried 
with  unnatural  swiftness  forward,  and  yet  was  not  mov- 
ing from  the  spot.  A  hussar  whom  he  recognized  as 
Bandarchuk  was  galloping  behind  him  and  looked   at 


270  WAR    AND    PEACE 

him  gravely.  Bandarchuk's  horse  shied  and  he  dashed 
by  him. 

"What  does  it  mean  ?  Am  I  not  moving.?  Have  I 
fallen  ?  Am  I  dead  ?  "  These  questions  Rostof  asked 
and  answered  in  a  breath.  He  was  alone  in  the  middle 
of  the  field.  In  place  of  the  galloping  horses  and  backs 
of  the  hussars,  he  saw  all  around  him  the  solid  earth 
and  stubble.  Warm  blood  was  under  him.  *'  No,  I  am 
wounded,  and  my  horse  is  killed." 

Grachik  raised  himself  on  his  fore  legs,  but  fell  back, 
pinning  down  his  rider's  foot.  From  the  horse's  head  a 
stream  of  blood  was  flowing.  The  horse  struggled  but 
could  not  rise.  Rostof  tried  to  get  to  his  feet,  but  like- 
wise fell  back.  His  sabretash  had  caught  on  the 
saddle.  Where  our  men  were,  where  the  French  were, 
he  could  not  tell.     There  was  no  one  around  him. 

Freeing  his  leg,  he  got  up. 

"  Where,  in  which  direction,  is  now  that  line  which  so 
clearly  separated  the  two  armies .''  "  he  asked  himself, 
and  could  find  no  answer.  "  Has  something  bad  hap- 
pened to  me  .?  Is  this  the  way  things  take  place,  and 
what  must  be  done  in  such  circumstances  ?  "  he  asked 
himself  again,  as  he  got  to  his  feet ;  and  at  this  time  he 
began  to  feel  as  if  something  extra  were  hanging  to  his 
benumbed  left  arm.  His  wrist  seemed  to  belong  to 
another  person.  He  looked  at  his  hand,  but  could  find 
no  trace  of  blood  on  it.  *' There  now,  here  are  our 
fellows,"  he  exclaimed  mentally,  with  joy,  perceiving  a 
few  running  toward  him.     ''They  will  help  me." 

In  front  of  these  men  ran  one  in  a  foreign-looking 
shako  and  in  a  blue  capote.  He  was  dark  and  sun- 
burnt, and  had  a  hooked  nose.  Two  or  three  others 
were  running  at  his  heels. 

One  of  them  said  something  in  a  language  that  was 
strange  and  un-Russian.  Surrounded  by  a  similar  set 
of  men,  in  the  same  sort  of  shakoes,  stood  a  Russian 
hussar.  His  hands  were  held ;  just  behind  him  they 
were  holding  his  horse. 

"  Is  our  man  really  taken  prisoner  ?  Yes  !  And  will 
they  take  me  too  ?    Who  are  these  men  ?  "    -Rostof  kept 


WAR    AND    PEACE  271 

asking  himself,  not  crediting  his  own  eyes.  *'  Can  they 
be  the  French  ?  " 

He  gazed  at  the  on-coming  strangers,  and,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  only  a  second  before  he  had  been  dash- 
ing forward  solely  for  the  purpose  of  overtaking  and 
hacking  down  these  same  Frenchmen,  their  proximity 
now  seemed  to  him  so  terrible  that  he  could  not  trust 
his  own  eyes ! 

"  Who  are  they  ?  Why  are  they  running  ?  Are  they 
running  at  me  ?  And  why  ?  Is  it  to  kill  me  ?  Me, 
whom  every  one  loves  so  ? " 

He  recollected  how  he  was  beloved  by  his  mother, 
his  family,  his  friends,  and  the  purpose  of  his  enemies 
to  kill  him  seemed  incredible. 

*' But  perhaps  ....  they  may...."  For  more  than  ten 
seconds  he  stood,  not  moving  from  the  spot  and  not 
realizing  his  situation. 

The  foremost  Frenchman,  with  the  hooked  nose,  had 
now  come  up  so  close  to  him  that  he  could  see  the 
expression  of  his  face.  AnS  the  heated  foreign -looking 
features  of  this  man,  who  was  coming  so  swiftly  down 
upon  him  with  fixed  bayonet  and  bated  breath,  filled 
Rostof  w4th  horror.  He  grasped  his  pistol,  but,  instead 
of  discharging  it,  flung  it  at  the  Frenchmen,  and  fled 
into  the  thicket  with  all  his  might.  He  ran,  not  with 
any  of  that  feeling  of  doubt  and  struggle  which  had 
possessed  him  on  the  bridge  at  Enns,  but  rather  with 
the  impulse  of  a  hare  trying  to  escape  from  the  dogs. 
One  single  fear  of  losing  his  happy  young  life  took 
possession  of  his  whole  being.  Swiftly  gliding  among 
the  heather,  with  all  the  intensity  with  which  he  had 
ever  run  when  playing  gorelki}  he  flew  across  the  field, 
occasionally  turning  round  his  pale,  kindly  young  face, 
while  a  chill  of  horror  ran  down  his  back. 

"  No,  I  'd  better  not  look  round,"  he  said  to  himself, 
but,  as  he  reached  the  shelter  of  the  bushes,  he  glanced 
round  once  more.  The  Frenchmen  had  slackened  their 
pace,  and  at  the  very  minute  that  he  glanced  round,  the 
foremost  runner  had  just  come  to  a  stop  and  was  start' 

^  A  kind  of  Russian  popular  game,  something  like  iag. 


272  WAR   AND    PEACE 

ing  to  walk  back,  shouting  something  in  a  loud  voice 
to  his  comrade  behind  him.  Rostof  paused.  "  It  can- 
not be  so,"  he  said  to  himself.  "  It  cannot  be  that  they 
wish  to  kill  me."  But  meantime  his  left  arm  became  as 
heavy  as  if  a  hundredweight  were  suspended  to  it.  He 
could  not  run  another  step.  The  Frenchman  also  paused, 
and  aimed.  Rostof  shut  his  eyes  and  ducked  his  head. 
One  bullet,  then  another,  flew  humming  by  him.  He 
collected  his  last  remaining  energies,  took  his  left  arm 
in  his  right  hand,  and  hurried  into  the  thicket.  Here  in 
the  bushes  were  the  Russian  sharpshooters. 


CHAPTER   XX 

The  infantry  regiments,  taken  unawares  in  the  for- 
est, had  rushed  out,  and  the  companies,  becoming  con- 
fused with  one  another,  had  formed  a  demoralized  mob. 
One  soldier,  in  his  panic,  had  shouted  the  senseless 
words  so  terrible  in  war:  "Cut  off!"  and  these  words, 
with  the  accompanying  panic,  had  spread  through  the 
whole  troop.  "Surrounded  !  "  ....  "Cut  off !"  ....  "Lost!  " 
cried  the  voices  of  the  fugitives. 

The  regimental  commander,  the  moment  he  heard 
the  musketry  and  the  shouting  behind  him,  compre- 
hended that  something  awful  had  happened  to  his  regi- 
ment, and  the  thought  that  he,  who  had  been  during 
many  years  of  service  an  exemplary  officer,  never  guilty 
of  any  breach,  might  now  be  accused  of  negligence  or 
faulty  arrangements,  came  on  him  so  keenly,  that,  for 
the  moment  entirely  forgetting  the  recalcitrant  colonel 
of  cavalry  and  his  own  importance  as  a  general,  and, 
above  all,  forgetting  the  peril  and  the  impulse  of  self- 
preservation,  he  seized  the  saddle-bow,  and,  spurring  on 
his  horse,  dashed  back  toward  the  regiment  under  a 
shower  of  bullets  falling  all  around  him,  but  fortunately 
sparing  him.  He  had  only  one  desire  :  to  find  out  what 
had  occurred,  to  bring  aid,  and  to  repair  the  blunder, 
if  it  were  in  any  way  to  be  attributed  to  him,  and  to 
escape  all  censure  after  his  twenty-two  years'  service, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  273 

in  which  his  record  as  an  officer  had  been  blame- 
less. 

Having  fortunately  spurred  through  the  line  of  the 
French  unharmed,  he  came  upon  his  regiment  on  the 
other  side  of  the  same  forest  through  which  the  Rus- 
sians had  been  running  and  scattering  down  the  ravine, 
not  heeding  the  word  of  command. 

That  moment  of  moral  vacillation  had  arrived  which 
decides  the  fate  of  a  battle :  would  these  scattered 
throngs  of  soldiers  heed  their  commander's  voice,  or 
would  they  merely  look  at  him  and  pursue  their  way .'' 

Notwithstanding  the  despairing  shouts  of  their  gen- 
eral, which  had  hitherto  been  so  terrible  to  them,  not- 
withstanding his  infuriated,  purple  face,  so  unlike  its 
ordinary  appearance,  and  notwithstanding  his  bran- 
dished sword,  the  soldiers  still  persisted  in  their  flight, 
shouted,  fired  their  guns  into  the  air,  and  paid  no  heed 
to  the  command.  The  moral  balance,  which  decides 
the  destiny  of  battles,  had  evidently  kicked  the  beam 
on  the  side  of  panic. 

The  general  coughed,  choking  with  the  violence  of 
his  shouts  and  the  gunpowder  smoke,  and  reined  in  his 
horse  in  despair.     All  seemed  lost. 

But  at  this  moment  the  French,  who  had  fallen  upon 
our  lines,  suddenly,  without  any  apparent  reason,  fell 
back  and  vanished  behind  the  edge  of  the  forest,  and 
the  Russian  sharpshooters  made  their  appearance.  This 
was  Timokhin's  company,  the  only  one  in  the  woods 
which  had  preserved  any  semblance  of  order ;  entrench- 
ing themselves  in  the  ditch  near  the  forest,  they  had  un- 
expectedly attacked  the  French.  Timokhin  had  thrown 
himself  upon  the  enemy  with  such  a  desperate  cry,  and, 
flourishing  his  rapier,  had  dashed  after  them  with  such 
frantic  and  rash  energy,  that  the  French,  before  they 
had  time  to  collect  their  wits,  flung  away  their  muskets 
and  fled. 

Dolokhof,  dashing  on  abreast  of  Timokhin,  killed  one 
Frenchman  point  blank,  and  was  the  first  to  seize  the 
officer  by  the  collar  and  make  him  surrender.  The  fugi- 
tives turned  back,  the  battalions  formed  again,  and  the 

VOL.  I. — 18 


274  WAR    AND    PEACE 

French,  who  had  cut  the  left  wing  in  two,  were  driven 
back  in  a  trice.  The  reserves  succeeded  in  uniting  their 
forces ;  the  fugitives  were  brought  to  a  halt. 

The  regimental  commander  was  standing  with  Major 
Ekonomof  by  the  bridge,  watching  the  retreating  com- 
panies file  past  him,  when  a  soldier  approached  him, 
seized  his  stirrup,  and  almost  leaned  against  him.  This 
soldier  wore  a  blue  cloak  of  broadcloth,  without  knap- 
sack or  shako  ;  his  head  was  bound  up,  and  over  his 
shoulder  he  carried  a  French  cartridge-pouch.  In  his 
hand  he  held  an  officer's  sword.  This  soldier  was  pale  ; 
his  blue  eyes  looked  boldly  into  the  general's  face,  and 
a  smile  parted  his  lips.  Although  the  general  was  en- 
gaged in  giving  directions  to  Major  Ekonomof,  he  could 
not  help  noticing  this  soldier. 

''  Your  excellency,  here  are  two  trophies,"  said  Dolo- 
khof,  showing  the  French  cartridge-pouch  and  sword. 
*'  I  took  an  officer  prisoner  with  my  own  hand.  I 
stopped  the  company." 

Dolokhof  was  all  out  of  breath  with  fatigue.  He 
spoke  in  broken  sentences.     "The  whole  company  can 

bear  me  witness I  beg  of  you  to  remember  it,  your 

excellency !  " 

"  Very  good,  very  good,"  said  the  regimental  com- 
mander, and  he  turned  to  Major  Ekonomof.  But  Dolo- 
khof did  not  pass  on.  He  untied  his  handkerchief, 
pulled  him  by  the  sleeve,  and  called  his  attention  to  the 
clotted  blood  on  his  hair :  — 

"  A  bayonet  wound  ;  I  was  in  the  front.  Remember, 
your  excellency !" 

Tushin's  battery  had  been  entirely  forgotten,  and  only 
at  the  very  end  of  the  engagement.  Prince  Bagration, 
still  hearing  cannonading  at  the  center,  sent  thither  the 
first  staff-officer  of  the  day,  and  then  Prince  Andrei,  to 
order  the  battery  to  retire  as  speedily  as  possible. 

The  covering  forces,  which  had  been  stationed  near 
Tushin's  cannon,  had  been  withdrawn  during  the  heat 
of  the  engagement  by  some  one's  orders  ;  but  the  battery 
still  continued  to  blaze  away,  and  had  not  been  taken 


WAR    AND    PEACE  275 

by  the  French,  simply  because  the  enemy  could  not 
comprehend  the  audacity  of  four  guns  continuing  to 
fire,  after  the  supporting  columns  had  been  withdrawn. 
On  the  contrary,  they  supposed,  from  the  energetic 
activity  of  this  battery,  that  the  principal  forces  of  the 
Russians  were  here  concentrated  in  the  center,  and 
twice  they  attempted  to  storm  this  point,  and  both  times 
they  were  driven  back  by  discharges  of  grape  from 
these  four  cannon,  standing  alone  on  the  hill. 

Shortly  after  Prince  Bagration's  departure,  Tushin 
had  succeeded  in  setting  Schongraben  on  fire. 

*'  See,  see  them  scatter  !"....**  It  burns !  see  the  smoke ! " 
...."Cleverly  done  !"....**  Splendid  !".... ''The  smoke! 
the  smoke  !  "  cried  the  gunners,  growing  excited. 

All  the  cannon  had  been  directed,  without  special 
orders,  in  the  direction  of  the  fire.  As  if  by  one  im- 
pulse the  soldiers  would  cry  out  after  every  shot, 
''Cleverly  done !"...."  That 's  the  way  to  do  it!".... 
"  See !  see  there  !  admirable  !  " 

The  fire,  fanned  by  the  wind,  quickly  spread.  The 
French  columns,  retreating  behind  the  village,  fell 
back,  but  as  if  for  a  punishment  for  this  misfortune, 
the  enemy  established  a  battery  of  ten  guns  a  little  to 
the  right  of  the  village  and  began  to  reply  to  Tushin's 
fire. 

In  their  childish  delight  at  setting  the  village  on  fire 
and  at  their  successful  onslaught  upon  the  French,  our 
gunners  did  not  notice  this  battery  until  two  cannon- 
balls,  followed  by  four  at  once,  fell  among  the  guns ; 
one  of  them  knocked  over  two  horses,  and  the  other 
carried  away  the  leg  of  the  powder-master.  The  ani- 
mation of  the  men,  once  aroused,  was  not  dampened, 
however,  but  only  changed  in  character.  The  horses 
were  replaced  by  two  others  from  the  reserve ;  the 
wounded  were  removed,  and  the  four  cannon  were 
turned  against  the  ten-gun  battery. 

An  officer,  Tushin's  comrade,  had  been  killed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  action,  and,  during  the  course  of  the 
hour,  out  of  forty  men  serving  the  guns,  seventeen  were 
disabled ;  but  still  the  gunners  were  jolly  and  full  of  en- 


276  WAR    AND    PEACE 

ergy.  Twice  they  noticed  that  below  and  not  far  away 
from  them  the  French  were  beginning  to  appear,  and 
they  had  loaded  with  grape. 

The  little  captain,  with  his  weak,  awkward  gestures, 
kept  calling  upon  his  servant  for  "just  one  more  little 
pipe,"  which  he  called  tribotchka,  instead  of  trnbotchka  ; 
and  then,  knocking  the  ashes  out,  he  would  leap  for- 
ward and  look  from  under  his  Httle  hand  at  the 
enemy. 

**  Let  'em  have  it,  boys  !  "  he  would  exclaim,  and,  him- 
self seizing  the  cannon  by  the  wheel,  he  would  bring  it 
back  into  position,  or  he  would  clean  out  the  bore.  In 
the  smoke,  stunned  by  the  incessant  firing,  though  he 
jumped  every  time  a  gun  went  off,  Tushin,  keeping  his 
''nose-warmer"  between  his  teeth,  ran  from  one  gun  to 
another,  now  aiming,  now  counting  the  charges  left, 
now  making  arrangements  for  the  change  or  removal 
of  the  killed  or  wounded  horses,  and  shouting  his  orders 
in  his  weak,  delicate,  irresolute  voice.  His  face  kept 
growing  more  and  more  animated.  Only  when  his  men 
were  killed  or  wounded  did  he  frown,  and,  turning  away 
from  the  unfortunate,  shout  sternly  to  the  others,  who, 
as  usual,  pressed  forward,  ordering  them  to  carry  away 
the  wounded  or  the  dead. 

The  soldiers,  for  the  most  part  handsome  young 
heroes,  —  as  always  happens  in  the  artillery,  a  couple 
of  heads  taller  than  their  officer,  and  twice  as  broadly 
built,  —  looked  at  their  commander  with  the  inquiring 
look  of  children  in  trouble,  and  the  expression  w^hich 
happened  to  be  in  his  face  was  immediately  reflected  in 
theirs. 

As  a  consequence  of  the  terrible  din  and  roar,  and 
the  necessity  for  oversight  and  activity,  Tushin  felt  not 
the  least  unpleasant  qualm  of  fear,  nor  did  the  thought 
that  he  might  be  killed  or  painfully  wounded  enter  his 
head.  On  the  contrary,  he  kept  growing  happier  and 
happier.  It  seemed  to  him  that  it  was  very  long  ago, 
not  even  that  same  afternoon,  since  the  moment  when 
he  first  caught  sight  of  the  advancing  enemy,  and  had 
fired  the  first  gun,  and  that  the  little  scrap  of  ground 


WAR   AND    PEACE  277 

where  he  stood  had  been  long,  long  known  and  familiar 
to  him.  Although  he  remembered  everything,  took 
everything  into  consideration,  did  everything  that  the 
best  of  officers  could  have  done  in  his  position,  still  he 
was  in  a  state  bordering  on  the  delirium  of  fever,  or  the 
condition  of  a  drunken  man. 

In  the  midst  of  the  stunning  sounds  of  his  own  guns 
roaring  on  every  side  of  him,  in  the  midst  of  the 
enemy's  shells,  whistling  and  striking  around  him,  see- 
ing his  sweating,  flushed  men  serving  the  guns,  seeing 
the  blood  of  men  and  horses,  seeing  the  puffs  of  smoke 
in  the  direction  of  the  enemy,  followed  always  by  the 
swift  flight  of  the  cannon-ball,  striking  into  the  ground, 
on  a  human  being,  on  the  guns,  or  among  the  horses  — 
seeing  all  these  various  sights,  still  his  mind  was  filled 
with  a  fantastic  world  of  his  own,  which  at  this  moment 
constituted  a  peculiar  delight  to  him.  The  enemy's  guns 
were,  in  his  imagination,  not  guns,  but  pipes,  from  which, 
from  time  to  time,  a  viewless  smoker  puffs  out  wreaths 
of  smoke. 

**  See  there,  he  gave  another  puff !  "  said  Tushin,  in  a 
half-whisper,  to  himself,  just  as  a  wreath  of  smoke 
leaped  away  from  the  hill  and  was  borne  to  the  left  in  a 
ribbon  by  the  wind. 

"  Now  let  us  catch  the  little  ball  and  send  it  back  !  " 

** What  is  your  order,  your  honor.?"  asked  a  gunner 
who  stood  near  him  and  noticed  that  he  muttered 
something. 

"  Nothing,  send  a  shell,"  he  replied. 

**  Now  then,  our  Matveyevna  !  "  said  he  to  himself. 
It  was  the  great,  old-fashioned  howitzer  that  Tushin 
personified  under  the  name  of  Matveyevna,  Daughter  of 
Matthew. 

The  French  around  their  guns  reminded  him  of  ants. 
Gunner  ''Number  one/'  of  the  second  field-piece,  a 
handsome  fellow,  too  much  given  to  drink,  was  dyadya, 
uncle,  in  his  world;  Tushin  looked  at  him  oftener  than 
at  the  others,  and  delighted  in  all  his  movements.  The 
sound  of  the  musketry  in  the  valley,  now  dying  away 
and  then  increasing  in    violence,   seemed  to    him    like 


278  WAR    AND    PEACE 

some  one  drawing  long  breaths.  He  listened  to  the 
intermittent  rising  and  falling  of  these  sounds. 

**Hark!  she's  breathing  again,  breathing  hard!"  he 
said  to  himself. 

He  imagined  himself  a  mighty  giant  of  monstrous 
size,  seizing  the  cannon-balls  with  both  hands  and  hurl- 
ing them  at  the  French. 

*•  Well,  Matveyevna  —  Matushka  !  —  little  mother  ' 
don't  betray  us,"  he  was  just  saying,  and  starting  away 
from  the  cannon,  when  back  of  him  was  heard  a  voice 
which  he  did  not  know  :  — 

"  Captain  Tushin  !  Captain  !  " 

Tushin  looked  around  in  alarm.  It  was  the  same 
staff-officer  who  had  sent  him  out  of  Grund.  In  a 
quavering  voice,  the  officer  cried  :  — 

"Are  you  beside  yourself.?  Twice  you  have  been 
ordered  to  retire  and  you....  " 

''  Now,  why  do  they  bother  me  .'*  "  exclaimed  Tushin 
to  himself,  looking  with  dread  at  the  officer.  "I ....  I  'm 
all  right,"  he  returned,  raising  two  fingers  to  his  visor. 
''I....  " 

But  the  colonel  did  not  say  all  that  he  meant  to  say. 
A  cannon-ball,  flying  close  to  him,  made  him  cower 
down  close  to  his  horse.  He  paused  and  was  just  going 
to  repeat  his  order,  when  still  another  cannon-ball  inter- 
rupted him.  He  wheeled  his  horse  round  and  galloped 
away. 

"Retire  !  all  of  you  retire! "  he  cried  from  the  distance. 

The  soldiers  laughed.  In  a  minute  an  aide  came  with 
the  same  order. 

This  was  Prince  Andrei.  The  first  thing  he  saw,  as  he 
reached  the  little  space  occupied  by  Tushin's  cannon, 
was  an  unharnessed  horse,  with  a  broken  leg,  neighing 
near  the  horses  that  were  still  hitched  up.  From  his 
leg  the  blood  was  spurting  as  from  a  fountain.  Among 
the  limbers  lay  a  number  of  the  killed.  One  cannon-ball 
after  another  flew  over  him  as  he  galloped  up,  and  he 
was  conscious  of  a  nervous  tremor  running  down  his 
back.  But  the  mere  thought  that  he  was  afraid  again 
roused  his  courage.     "  I  cannot  be  afraid,"  he  said  to 


WAR   AND    PEACE  279 

himself,  and  he  deUberately  dismounted  among  the 
field-pieces.  He  delivered  his  message  and  still  lin- 
gered in  the  battery.  He  resolved  that  the  guns  should 
be  removed  from  their  position  and  brought  in  under 
his  direction.  He  and  Tushin,  stepping  among  the 
dead  bodies,  made  the  arrangements  for  limbering  the 
cannon,  even  while  the  French  were  pouring  a  murder- 
ous fire  upon  them. 

**  An  officer  just  dashed  up  here,  but  he  made  himself 
scarce  in  no  time,"  remarked  a  gunner  to  Prince  Andrei. 
"  He  was  n't  like  your  honor." 

Prince  Andrei  exchanged  no  words  with  Tushin. 
They  were  both  so  occupied  that  it  seemed  as  if  they 
did  not  see  each  other.  When  at  last  they  succeeded 
in  getting  two  of  the  four  field-pieces  limbered,  they 
started  to  descend  the  hill,  leaving  one  field-piece  dis- 
mounted, together  with  the  howitzer.  Prince  Andrei 
turned  to  Tushin.  "  Well,  good-by,"  said  he,  offering 
him  his  hand. 

"Good-by,  my  dear,"  returned  Tushin,  "dear  heart, 
farewell,  my  dear  fellow  !  "^  exclaimed  Tushin,  the  tears 
springing  to  his  eyes  though  he  knew  not  why. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

The  breeze  had  died  down ;  dark  clouds  hung  low 
over  the  battle-field,  mingling  on  the  horizon  with  the 
smoke  of  gunpowder.  It  had  grown  dark,  and  there- 
fore with  all  the  more  clearness  the  blaze  of  two  burn- 
ing villages  stood  out  against  the  sky.  The  cannonade 
had  slackened,  but  still  the  rattle  of  musketry  at  the 
rear,  and  at  the  right,  was  heard  with  ever  increasing 
frequency  and  distinctness. 

As  soon  as  Tushin  and  his  field-pieces,  jolting  and 
constantly  meeting  wounded  men,  got  out  of  range  and 

^  "  Da  sviddnya,  galubchik  !  pj-ashchd'ite,  galubchik  !  "  There  is  a  deli- 
cate distinction  in  these  two  forms  of  farewell.  Prashchdlte  hints  that 
the  farewell  may  be  forever. 


28o  WAR    AND    PEACE 

descended  into  the  ravine,  he  was  met  by  the  com- 
mander and  his  aides,  among  whom  were  both  the  staff- 
officer  and  Zherkof,  who  had  been  twice  sent  but  had 
not  once  succeeded  in  reaching  Tushin's  battery.  All 
of  them  gave  him  confused  orders  and  counter-orders, 
as  to  how  and  where  to  go,  and  overwhelmed  him  with 
reproaches  and  criticisms. 

Tushin  made  no  arrangements,  but  rode  toward  the 
rear  on  his  artillery  jade,  not  saying  a  word  for  fear  he 
should  burst  into  tears,  which,  without  his  knowing  why, 
were  ready  to  gush  from  his  eyes.  Although  the  order 
was  to  abandon  the  wounded,  many  dragged  themselves 
after  the  troops  and  begged  for  a  ride  on  the  gun-car- 
riages. That  very  same  gallant  infantry  officer  who, 
before  the  beginning  of  the  engagement,  had  darted  so 
energetically  from  Tushin's  hut,  was  stretched  out  on 
the  carriage  of  the  Matveyevna,  with  a  bullet  in  his 
belly.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a  pale  yunker  of  hussars, 
holding  one  arm  in  his  hand,  came  to  Tushin  and  asked 
for  a  seat ! 

**  Captain,  for  God's  sake,  my  arm  is  crushed,"  said 
he,  timidly.  *'  For  God's  sake,  I  can't  walk  any  longer. 
For  God's  sake  !  " 

It  was  evident  that  this  yunker  had  more  than  once 
repeated  this  request  and  been  everywhere  refused. 
He  asked  in  an  irresolute  and  piteous  voice.  "  Give  me 
a  place  for  God's  sake  !  " 

*'  Climb  on,  climb  on  !  "  said  Tushin.  "  Spread  out  a 
cloak,  uncle,"  he  added,  turning  to  his  favorite  gunner. 
"  But  where  is  the  wounded  officer  ?  " 

"We  took  him  off;  he  died,"  replied  some  one. 

"  Climb  on  !  Sit  there,  sit  down,  my  dear  fellow,  sit 
there  !     Spread  out  the  cloak,  Antonof  !  " 

The  yunker  was  Rostof.  He  held  his  left  arm  in 
his  right  hand ;  his  face  was  pale,  and  his  teeth  chat- 
tered with  fever.  He  was  assisted  to  climb  on  the 
Matveyevna,  to  the  very  same  spot  from  which  they 
had  removed  the  dead  officer.  There  was  blood  on  the 
cloak  which  Antonof  spread  out,  and  it  stained  Rostof's 
riding-trousers  and  hands. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  281 

"What !  are  you  wounded,  my  dear?  "^  asked  Tushin, 
approaching  the  gun  on  which  Rostof  was  riding. 

"  No,  only  a  bruise." 

"  But  where  did  that  blood  come  from,  on  the  gun- 
cheek  ? "  asked  the  other. 

**That  is  the  officer's,  your  honor,"  replied  a  gun- 
ner, wiping  away  the  blood  with  the  sleeve  of  his 
cloak,  as  if  he  were  apologizing  for  the  stain  on  the 
gun. 

By  main  force  and  with  the  help  of  the  infantry,  the 
guns  were  dragged  up  the  slope,  and  when  they  reached 
the  village  of  Gunthersdorf,  they  halted.  By  this  time 
it  was  quite  dark,  so  that  it  was  impossible  at  ten  paces 
to  distinguish  the  uniforms  of  the  soldiers  ;  the  musketry 
fire  was  beginning  to  slacken. 

Suddenly  shouts  and  the  rattle  of  shots  were  heard 
again  near  by  at  the  right.  The  darkness  was  lighted 
up  by  the  flashes  of  the  guns.  This  was  the  last  attack 
of  the  French,  and  the  soldiers  replied  to  it  as  they 
intrenched  themselves  in  the  houses  of  the  village. 
Once  more  all  hands  rushed  out  from  the  village,  but 
Tushin's  field-pieces  could  not  be  moved,  and  the  gun- 
ners and  Tushin  and  the  yunker,  silently  exchanging 
glances,  awaited  their  fate. 

Then  the  firing  began  to  die  away  once  more,  and  out 
from  a  side  street  came  a  party  of  soldiers,  engaged  in 
lively  conversation. 

"  Safe  and  sound,  Petrof  ?  "  asked  one. 

*<  We  gave  it  to  them,  hot  and  heavy,  brother.  They 
won't  meddle  with  us  again,"  returned  the  other. 

"  Can't  see  a  thing.  How  was  it  ?  Warmed  'em  up 
a  little,  hey  ?  Can't  see  a  thing,  it 's  so  dark,  fellows  ! 
Anything  to  drink  ?  " 

The  French  had  been  driven  back  for  the  last  time. 
And  once  more,  through  the  impenetrable  darkness, 
Tushin's  field-pieces  moved  forward,  surrounded  by  the 
rumbling  infantry  as  by  a  frame. 

Something  seemed  to  be  flowing  on  through  the  dark- 
ness, like  an  invisible,  gloomy  river,  ever  pushing  for- 

^  Galubchik. 


282  WAR   AND    PEACE 

ward  in  one  direction,  with  a  murmur  of  voices,  and  the 
clinking  of  bayonets,  and  the  rumble  of  wheels. 

And  above  the  general  turmoil,  clear  and  distinguisha- 
ble above  all  other  sounds,  arose  the  groans  and  cries  of 
the  wounded  in  the  blackness  of  the  night.  Their 
groans  seemed  to  coincide  with  the  pitchy  blackness 
which  surrounded  the  army.  Their  groans  and  this 
darkness  of  the  night  seemed  to  be  one  and  the  same 
thing.  After  a  while,  a  wave  of  excitement  ran  through 
this  onward  struggling  mass.  Some  one  had  come  from 
headquarters  on  a  white  horse  and  shouted  something 
as  he  rode  along  by. 

''What's  that  he  says  .?"....'*  Where  now  .?"....'' Is 
it  to  halt.''  "  ....  "  Did  he  express  any  gratitude  ?  "  Such 
were  the  eager  questions  heard  on  all  sides,  and  then 
the  whole  moving  mass,  as  it  moved  forward,  recoiled 
on  itself.  Evidently,  the  van  had  halted,  and  the  report 
spread  that  orders  were  to  bivouac  there.  All  hands 
settled  down  where  they  were  in  the  middle  of  the 
muddy  road. 

Fires  were  lighted,  and  voices  began  to  grow  ani- 
mated. Captain  Tushin,  having  made  his  arrangements 
for  his  company,  sent  one  of  his  men  to  find  the  tempo- 
rary hospital,  or  at  least  a  surgeon  for  the  yunker,  and 
sat  down  in  front  of  the  fire  which  his  soldiers  had  built 
by  the  roadside. 

Rostof  also  dragged  himself  up  to  the  fire.  The  fever, 
caused  by  his  pain,  the  cold,  and  the  dampness,  shook 
his  whole  frame.  An  irresistible  inclination  to  drowsi- 
ness overcame  him,  but  still  he  could  not  sleep,  owing 
to  the  tormenting  pain  which  he  felt  in  his  arm ;  it 
ached,  and  he  found  no  position  that  relieved  it.  Some- 
times he  closed  his  eyes ;  then,  again,  he  gazed  into  the 
fire,  which  seemed  to  him  angrily  red  ;  then,  again,  at 
the  round-shouldered,  slender  figure  of  Tushin,  sitting 
Turkish  fashion  near  him.  Tushin's  large,  intelligent, 
kindly  eyes  were  fastened  upon  him  with  sympathy  and 
compassion.  He  saw  that  Tushin  with  all  his  soul 
desired,  and  yet  was  totally  unable,  to  help  him. 

On  all  sides  were  heard  the  steps  and  voices  of  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  283 

infantry  passing  by,  coming  up,  and  settling  down 
around  them.  The  sounds  of  voices,  of  steps,  and 
trampUng  of  horses,  stamping  their  hoofs  in  the  mud, 
the  echo  of  axes  far  and  near,  all  mingled  in  one  pul- 
sating roar. 

Now,  it  was  no  longer  like  a  viewless  river  rolHng 
onward  through  the  darkness,  but  rather  like  a  gloomy 
sea,  roaring  and  breaking,  after  a  storm.  Rostof,  half 
dazed,  looked  and  listened  to  what  was  going  on  around 
him,  and  before  him. 

A  foot-soldier  came  up  to  the  bivouac  fire,  squatted 
down  on  his  heels,  rubbed  his  hands  over  the  fire,  and 
turned  his  face  around. 

"  Any  harm,  your  honor }  "  ^  he  asked,  turning  to 
Tushin  with  an  inquiring  expression.  "  Here  I  've  lost 
my  company,  your  honor,  I  don't  know  where  it  is  ! 
Hard  luck." 

At  the  same  time  with  the  soldier,  an  infantry  officer 
with  a  bandaged  cheek  came  to  the  fire,  and  begged 
Tushin  to  order  his  field-pieces  to  be  moved  a  trifle,  so 
as  to  allow  the  baggage-train  to  pass.  The  company 
commander  was  followed  by  two  soldiers.  They  were 
quarreling  desperately,  reviling  each  other,  and  almost 
fighting  over  a  boot. 

"You  lie  !  You  did  n't  pick  it  up  !  Oh  !  you  villain!" 
one  of  them  was  crying,  in  a  hoarse  voice. 

Then  came  a  lean,  pale  soldier,  with  his  neck  done 
up  in  blood-stained  bandages,  and,  in  an  irascible  voice, 
asked  the  artillerymen  for  a  drink  of  water. 

"  What,  must  I  die  Hke  a  dog .? "  he  grumbled. 

Tushin  ordered  the  men  to  give  him  a  drink.  Then 
came  a  jolly  soldier,  asking  for  some  fire  for  the 
infantry. 

"A  little  fire,  from  a  red-hot  man,  for  the  infantry! 
Good  luck  to  you,  fellow-countrymen !  Thank  you  for 
the  fire ;  we  '11  return  it  with  interest,"  said  he,  as  he 
disappeared  into  the  darkness,  with  a  flaming  brand. 

'^"  Nitchevo,  vdshe  blagorddie  ?''''  Nitchevo,  literally  nothing,  is  in  every 
Russian's  mouth,  and  means  everything  and  anything,  according  to  the 
context. 


284  WAR   AND    PEACE 

After  this  soldier  came  four,  carrying  something 
heavy  wrapped  up  in  a  cloak,  and  went  past  the  fire. 
One  of  them  stumbled.  *'  Oh,  bah  !  the  devils  !  they  've 
been  spilling  firewood,"  cried  one  of  them. 

"He's  dead!  what's  the  use  of  lugging  him,''"  ex- 
claimed another. 

•'Well,  I  tell  you...." 

And  they  vanished  in  the  darkness  with  their  burden. 

"  Say,  does  it  hurt  .-^  "  asked  Tushin,  in  a  whisper. 

"Yes,  it  hurts." 

"  Your  honor,  the  general  wants  you.  He  's  at  the 
cottage,  yonder,"  said  one  of  the  gunners,  coming  up  to 
Tushin. 

"  In  a  moment,  my  boy."  ^ 

Tushin  arose,  and,  buttoning  his  cloak  and  straighten- 
ing himself  up,  he  left  the  fireside. 

In  a  cottage  which  had  been  made  ready  for  him,  not 
far  from  the  artillerist's  fire.  Prince  Bagration  was  still 
sitting  at  the  dinner-table,  talking  with  a  number  of 
high  officers,  who  had  called  in  for  consultation. 

There  was  a  little,  old  man,  with  half-closed  eyes, 
greedily  gnawing  a  mutton-bone ;  and  the  general  of 
twenty-two  years'  blameless  service,  his  face  flushed 
from  his  vodka  and  his  dinner;  and  the  staff-officer 
with  the  birthday  ring ;  and  Zherkof,  uneasily  looking 
at  the  others  ;  and  Prince  Andrei,  with  compressed  lips 
and  feverishly  shining  eyes. 

In  the  corner  of  the  cottage  leaned  the  standard 
taken  from  the  French,  and  the  auditor,  with  his  inno- 
cent face,  was  fingering  the  stuff  of  which  the  standard 
was  made,  shaking  his  head  doubtfully,  perhaps  because 
he  was  really  interested  in  the  standard,  and  possibly 
because,  being  hungry,  it  was  hard  to  see  the  dinner- 
table,  at  which  no  place  had  been  set  for  him. 

In  the  next  cottage  was  a  captured  colonel  of  dra- 
goons, with  the  Russian  officers  crowding  around  him, 
with  curiosity  in  their  eyes. 

Prince  Bagration  thanked  the  officers  of  the  various 

1  Galubchik. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  285 

divisions,  and  made  inquiries  about  the  details  of  the 
engagement,  and  the  losses. 

The  regimental  commander  who  had  commanded  the 
review  at  Braunau  explained  to  the  prince  that,  as  soon 
as  the  action  began,  he  had  withdrawn  from  the  woods, 
collected  the  men  engaged  in  gathering  firewood,  and, 
sending  them  back,  had  charged  with  two  battalions, 
and  simply  carried  the  French  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet. 

"  When  I  saw  that  the  first  battalion  was  giving  way, 
your  illustriousness,  I  stood  on  the  road  and  said  to  my- 
self, *  I  will  let  them  get  by  first,  and  then  order  a  run- 
ning fire,'  and  that  was  the  way  I  did." 

The  regimental  commander  had  been  so  anxious  to 
do  this,  and  so  sorry  that  he  had  not  been  successful  in 
doing  it,  that  it  now  seemed  to  him  that  he  actually  had 
done  so.  Indeed,  may  it  not  have  been  so  ?  How  was 
it  possible  to  decide,  in  the  general  confusion,  what  had 
happened  and  what  had  not  happened .'' 

"  By  the  way,  I  ought  to  observe,  your  illustrious- 
ness," he  went  on  to  say,  remembering  Dolokhof's  con- 
versation with  Kutuzof,  and  his  last  meeting  with  the 
young  man,  "  that  the  cashiered  private,  Dolokhof,  took 
a  French  officer  prisoner,  under  my  very  eyes,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  notably." 

"  It  was  there  I  saw  the  charge  of  the  Pavlograd 
hussars,  your  illustriousness,"  remarked  Zherkof,  look- 
ing around  uneasily,  for  he  had  not  that  day  seen  a 
single  hussar,  and  had  only  heard  about  them  from 
an  infantry  officer!  ''They  broke  two  squares,  your 
illustriousness." 

A  few,  hearing  Zherkof's  words,  smiled,  because  a 
joke  was  always  expected  from  him  ;  but,  perceiving 
that  what  he  said  also  redounded  to  the  glory  of  our 
arms,  and  of  the  day's  doings,  they  grew  serious  again, 
though  they  knew  very  well  that  what  Zherkof  said  was 
a  lie  without  even  a  semblance  of  foundation.  Prince 
Bagration  turned  to  the  elderly  colonel. 

"  I  thank  you  all,  gentlemen  ;  all  parties  have  worked 
like  heroes,  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery.     But  how 


286  WAR    AND    PEACE 

was  it  two  field-pieces  were  abandoned  in  the  center  ? " 
he  demanded,  looking  round  for  some  one.  —  Prince 
Bagration  made  no  inquiries  for  the  cannon  of  the  left 
wing ;  he  knew  by  this  time  that  all  the  cannon  there 
had  been  abandoned  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
action.  —  **  I  believe  I  asked  you  about  them }  "  he 
said,  turning  to  the  staff-officer  of  the  day. 

"  One  was  dismounted,"  replied  the  staff-officer;  "but 
the  other  —  as  to  that  I  myself  cannot  understand;  I 
was  there  all  the  time  and  gave  orders  for  it  to  be  re- 
tired, and  immediately  I  was  called  away.  It  was  hot 
there,  to  be  sure,"  he  added  modestly. 

Some  one  remarked  that  Captain  Tushin  was  right 
here  in  the  village,  and  that  he  had  already  been  sent 
for. 

"Ah,  but  you  were  there,  were  you  not.-^"  asked 
Prince  Bagration,  of  Prince  Andrei. 

"  Certainly,  we  almost  met  there,"  said  the  staff- 
officer,  giving  Prince  Andrei  an  affable  smile. 

"  I  did  not  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,"  declared 
Prince  Andrei,  coolly  and  curtly.     All  were  silent. 

Tushin  now  appeared  on  the  threshold,  modestly 
making  his  way  behind  the  backs  of  the  generals. 
Passing  around  the  generals  in  the  narrow  room,  and 
confused,  as  always,  in  the  presence  of  his  superiors, 
Tushin  did  not  see  the  flagstaff,  and  stumbled  over  it. 
Several  laughed. 

"  How  is  it  the  guns  were  abandoned  .^"  asked  Bagra- 
tion, frowning,  but  not  so  much  at  the  captain  as  at 
those  who  were  rude  enough  to  laugh,  among  whom 
Zherkof's  voice  was  distinguished  above  the  rest. 
Tushin  now,  for  the  first  time,  at  the  sight  of  the  stern 
commander,  realized  with  horror  his  crime  and  dis- 
grace at  having  lost  two  guns,  while  he  himself  was  left 
alive. 

He  had  been  so  agitated  that,  till  this  moment,  he 
had  not  had  time  to  think  of  this  incident.  The  laugh- 
ter of  the  officers  still  more  threw  him  off  his  balance. 
He  stood  in  front  of  Bagration  with  his  lower  jaw 
trembling,  and  could  hardly  stammer  :  — 


WAR    AND    PEACE  287 

''  I ....  I ....  don't  know  ....  your  illustriousness  ....  I  had 
no  men,  your  illustriousness."  .... 

''  You  might  have  had  them  from  the  forces  that  cov- 
ered you." 

Tushin  did  not  reply  that  there  were  not  forces  cov- 
ering him,  though  this  would  have  been  the  unvar- 
nished truth.  He  was  afraid  that  he  might  compromise 
some  of  his  superior  officers,  and  so  in  silence,  with 
staring  eyes,  he  gazed  into  Bagration's  face,  as  a  school- 
boy looks  in  confusion  into  his  master's. 

A  rather  long  silence  ensued.  Prince  Bagration, 
evidently  not  wishing  to  be  too  severe,  knew  not  what 
to  say;  the  others  did  not  venture  to  interfere  in  the 
conversation.  Prince  Andrei  looked  askance  at  Tushin, 
and  his  fingers  twitched  nervously. 

**Your  illustriousness,"  said  Prince  Andrei',  breaking 
the  silence,  in  his  clear  .voice,  "you  were  pleased  to 
send  me  to  Captain  Tushin's  battery.  I  went  there  and 
found  two-thirds  of  his  men  and  horses  disabled,  two  of 
his  guns  dismounted,  and  no  forces  to  cover  him  !  " 

Prince  Bagration  and  Tushin  kept  their  eyes  fixed  on 
Bolkonsky,  who  was  speaking  under  the  influence,  of 
restrained  excitement. 

"  And  if  your  illustriousness  will  permit  me  to  ex- 
press my  opinion,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  we  are  indebted 
more  than  all  for  the  success  of  this  day  to  the  action 
of  this  battery,  and  the  heroic  steadfastness  of  Captain 
Tushin  and  his  company,"  said  Prince  Andrei;  and, 
without  waiting  for  any  reply,  he  got  up  and  left  the 
table. 

Prince  Bagration  looked  at  Tushin,  and  evidently  not 
wishing  to  show  any  disbelief  in  Prince  Bolkonsky's 
stiff  judgment,  and  at  the  same  time  not  feeling  himself 
prepared  to  acquiesce  entirely  with  it,  he  inclined  his 
head  and  told  Tushin  that  he  might  go.  Prince  Andrei 
followed  him. 

"  Thank  you,  my  boy,^  you  have  saved  me,"  said 
Tushin  to  him. 

Prince  Andrei  looked  at  Tushin,  and,  without  saying 

1  Galubchik. 


288  WAR   AND    PEACE 

anything,  turned  away  from  him.  His  heart  was  heavy 
and  full  of  melancholy.  It  was  all  so  strange,  so  unlike 
what  he  had  anticipated. 

"  Who  are  they  ?  why  do  they  come  here  ?  what 
do  they  want.-*  and  when  will  all  this  end.''"  Rostof 
asked  himself,  as  he  gazed  at  the  shadows  which  un- 
ceasingly passed  before  him.  The  pain  in  his  arm  grew 
worse  and  worse.  Unconquerable  drowsiness  oppressed 
him.  Red  circles  danced  before  his  eyes,  and  the  im- 
pression of  these  voices  and  these  faces,  and  the  sense 
of  his  loneliness,  mingled  with  the  sense  of  his  agony. 
These  soldiers,  wounded  and  not  wounded,  they  all  did 
the  same  thing  —  they  pressed  upon  him,  crushed  him, 
tore  his  muscles,  and  roasted  the  flesh  in  his  crushed 
arm  and  shoulder. 

To  rid  himself  of  them  he  closed  his  eyes. 

He  lost  himself  for  one  moment,  but  during  that 
brief  interval  of  forgetfulness  he  saw  in  his  dream  a 
countless  collection  of  objects.  He  saw  his  mother,  with 
her  large  white  hand ;  he  saw  Sonya's  thin  shoulders, 
Natasha's  eyes  and  smiling  lips,  and  Denisof,  with  his 
voice  and  mustache,  and  Telyanin,  and  his  whole 
encounter  with  Telyanin  and  Bogdanuitch.  All  this 
story  was  one  and  the  same  thing  with  what  this 
soldier  with  the  shrill  voice  said,  and  all  this  story 
and  .this  soldier  so  cruelly,  so  constantly  crushed, 
twitched,  and  pulled  his  arm  in  one  direction !  He 
struggled  to  escape  from  them,  but  they  would  not  for 
a  single  second  let  go  of  his  shoulder,  or  in  the  least 
relax  their  hold.  It  would  not  have  hurt,  it  would  have 
been  all  right,  if  they  would  cease  pulling  him  ;  but  it 
was  impossible  to  get  rid  of  them. 

He  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  up.  A  black  strip  of 
the  night,  an  arshin  wide,  hung  over  the  glowing  coals. 
Across  this  strip  of  light  flew  the  powdery  snow  as  it 
fell.  Tushin  did  not  return  ;  the  surgeon  had  not  come. 
He  was  alone  ;  a  little  soldier  now  sat  on  the  other  side 
of  the  fire,  stripped,  and  warming  his  thin,  sallow  body. 

"  I  'm  of  no  use  to  any  one  !  "   thought  Rostof.     "  No 


WAR   AND    PEACE  289 

one  helps  me  or  takes  pity  on  me  !  But  if  I  were  only 
at  home,  strong,  happy,  beloved  !  " 

He  sighed  and  his  sigh  involuntarily  changed  into  a 
groan. 

"  Ai !  does  it  hurt  ?  "  asked  the  little  soldier,  shaking 
his  shirt  over  the  fire,  and,  without  awaiting  his  answer, 
quacking  like  a  duck,  he  added,  "Good  many  men 
knocked  to  pieces  this  day  !  terrible !  " 

Rostof  did  not  heed  the  soldier.  He  gazed  at  the 
snowflakes  fluttering  down  into  the  fire,  and  he  recalled 
what  winter  would  be  at  home  in  Russia,  his  warm, 
bright  home,  with  his  downy  furs,  swift  sledges,  his 
strong,  healthy  body,  and  the  love  and  care  of  his 
family. 

"  And  why  did  I  come  here .? "  he  asked  himself. 

On  the  following  day  the  French  did  not  renew  their 
attack,  and  the  remains  of  Bagration's  division  effected 
a  conjunction  with  Kutuzof's  army. 
VOL.  I.  — 19 


END   OF  VOL.  I. 


WAR  AND   PEACE 

VOL.   II 


CONTENTS 


PART   III  (1806) 

CHAPTER  I.    Page  i 

Prince  Vasili's  character.  His  scheme  to  marry  his  daughter  to  Pierre. 
Pierre  appointed  gentleman-in-waiting.  Pierre  in  demand.  The  effect  of 
wealth.  Behavior  of  the  long-waisted  Katish.  Pierre  is  generous.  Prince 
Vasili  manages  Pierre's  affairs.  Keeps  something  for  himself.  Pierre 
warmly  received  in  Petersburg.  Another  reception  at  Mile.  Scherer's. 
Ellen's  self-reliance.  Pierre's  snuff-boxes.  Ma  tante.  Ellen's  sensuous 
beauty.  Her  power  over  Pierre.  Pierre  fits  up  his  Petersburg  mansion. 
Pierre  sums  up  Ellen's  character.     Ugly  stories  about  her. 


CHAPTER   II.     P.  12 

Pierre  realizes  his  danger.  Fascinated.  Prince  Vasili's  tactics.  Ellen's 
name-day.  The  Princess  Kuragina.  Prince  Vasili  the  life  of  the  com- 
pany. His  anecdote  of  Sergye'I  Kuzmitch  Vyazmitinof  and  the  imperial 
rescript.  Ellen  and  Pierre.  Young  love  and  its  aloofness.  Pierre  absent- 
minded.  Prince  Vasili  brings  the  affair  to  a  crisis,  "yi?  vous  aimeP 
Pierre  married. 

CHAPTER  III.     P.  22 

Prince  Vasili  announces  his  coming  to  Luisiya  Gorui.  Prince  Nikolai's 
opinion  of  Prince  Vasili.  Out  of  sorts.  The  inspection.  Alpatuitch  has 
to  shovel  back  the  snow.  The  prince  at  dinner.  Liza  at  Luisiya  Gorui,, 
The  "  minister."  Mile.  Bourienne's  audacity.  Prince  Nikolai  visits  his 
daughter-in-law.  Arrival  of  Prince  Vasili.  Anatoi's  character.  The 
Princess  Mariya's  dread  of  her  suitor.  Liza  and  Mile.  Bourienne  en- 
deavor to  improve  Mariya's  beauty.  Their  failure.  Mariya's  day-dreams. 
God's  answer  to  her  prayer. 

V 


vi  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   IV.     P.  32 

Princess  Mariya  comes  down  into  the  drawing-room.  Anatol's  self- 
reliance.  His  behavior  toward  women.  Liza's  liveliness.  General  con- 
versation. Prince  Nikolai's  thoughts  concerning  the  prospective  suitor- 
Prince  Bolkonsky  takes  offense  at  his  daughter's  way  of  dressing  her  hair. 
Prince  Vasili's  proposals.  Effect  of  Anatol  on  the  women  of  the  household. 
Mile.  Bourienne's  aspirations.  ^'Ma  pauvre  niereP  Anatol's  breach  of 
etiquette  misinterpreted. 

CHAPTER  V.     P.  42 

Liza's  fretfulness.  The  old  prince  considers  and  makes  up  his  mind. 
The  princess  consults  with  her  father.  Princess  Mariya  granted  perfect 
freedom  of  choice.  She  discovers  Anatol  and  Mile.  Bourienne  in  the  con- 
servatory.    Princess  Mariya's  adverse  decision.     Forgives  Mile.  Bourienne. 

CHAPTER  VI.     P.  49 

At  the  Rostofs'.  Letters  from  Nikolai.  How  to  break  the  news  to  the 
countess.  The  girls  try  to  recollect  Nikolai.  Petya's  superiority.  The 
countess  told.     Letters  to  Nikolai. 


CHAPTER  VII.     P.  56 

In  camp  near  Olmiitz.  Nikolai  promoted  to  cornet.  Nikolat  visits 
Boris,  who  is  with  Berg.  Difference  between  the  young  men.  Nikolai's 
indignation  with  Boris.  Berg's  account  of  the  grand  duke.  Nikola!  tells 
about  Schongraben.  Unconscious  exaggeration.  Arrival  of  Prince  An- 
drei.    Nikolai  quarrels  with  him.     Threatened  duel. 

CHAPTER  VIII.     P.  67 

The  emperors  review  the  troops.  Nikolai's  enthusiasm.  Nikolai  on 
horseback. 

CHAPTER  IX.    P.  73 

Boris  visits  Prince  Andrei  at  Olmiitz.  Headquarters.  The  unwritten 
code.  Prince  Andrei  and  the  general.  Prince  Andrei  takes  Boris  to  see 
Prince  Dolgorukof.  The  council  of  war.  Prince  Dolgorukof's  anecdotes 
of  Napoleon.    The  men  who  decide  the  fate  of  nations. 


CONTENTS  vii 


CHAPTER   X.     P.  8 1 

Ready  for  action.  Nikolai  in  the  reserve.  The  emperor  again.  Skir- 
mish at  Wischau.  The  emperor  inspects  the  field.  The  supper.  Nikolai's 
toast. 

CHAPTER  XI.     P.  87 

Savary's  mission  to  the  emperor.  Dolgorukof  sent  to  confer  with 
Napoleon.  December,  1805.  Comparison  of  an  army  to  a  great  clock. 
Dolgorukof  describes  his  visit  to  Napoleon.  Weirother's  plan.  Kutuzof 's 
prophecy. 

CHAPTER  Xn.     P.  92 

Council  of  war.  Comparison  of  Weirother  to  a  horse  attached  to  a 
loaded  team.  Drowsy  Kutuzof.  Weirother's  "  disposition."  Discussion. 
After  the  council  of  war.  Prince  Andrei's  doubts.  His  forebodings.  His 
aspirations.    The  servants  teasing  Kutuzof 's  cook. 

CHAPTER   Xni.     P.  100 

The  battle  of  Austerlitz  (1805).  Nikolat  at  the  front.  His  sensations. 
His  jeu  de  mots.  Commotion  among  the  French.  "  Vive  PEmpereur  !'* 
Visit  of  Bagration.  Nikolai  sent  to  reconnoiter.  Nikolat  reports.  Asks 
to  be  transferred  from  the  reserve.    Napoleon's  order  to  his  army. 

CHAPTER  XIV.     P.  107 

The  morning  of  the  battle.  Limitations  of  a  soldier.  Compared  to  a 
ship.  Gossip  in  the  lines.  Confusion.  Beginning  of  the  battle.  View 
from  the  Pratzer.  Napoleon  and  his  marshals.  The  key  of  the  situation. 
Napoleon  gives  the  order  to  begin. 

CHAPTER  XV.    P.  114 

Kutuzof  at  Pratz.  The  marching  of  the  troops.  Prince  Andrei's 
emotions.  Kutuzof's  behavior  toward  the  Austrian  colleague.  The  em- 
peror and  Kutuzof.  *'  Why  do  we  not  begin?  "  The  Apsheron  regiment. 
Miloradovitch's  charge. 

CHAPTER  XVI.     P.  121 

Unexpected  appearance  of  the  French.  Kutuzof  wounded.  Defeat. 
Prince  Andrei  tries  to  save  the  day.  Battle  scenes.  Prince  Andrei 
wounded.     Infinite  depths  of  sky. 


viii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XVII.     P.  126 

The  right  wing.  Bagration  sends  Nikolai  to  Kutuzof.  His  exciting 
ride.  The  charge  of  the  Leib-Uhlans.  Narrow  escape.  Boris.  Berg 
wounded.     Evil  presentiments. 


CHAPTER  XVIII.     P.  132 

Rostof's  ride  continued.  Demoralization  of  the  forces.  The  fatal  field. 
Rostof  finds  the  emperor  but  dares  not  address  him.  Rostofs  despair. 
Kutuzof's  cook  again.  Five  o'clock  p.m.  The  dike  of  Augest.  Cannon- 
ade.    Dolokhof. 

CHAPTER  XIX.    P.  140 

Prince  Andrei  left  on  the  field.  Napoleon.  Insignificance  of  Napoleon 
compared  to  the  infinite  heaven.  Napoleon  and  Prince  Repnin.  Lieu- 
tenant Sukhelen's  beautiful  answer.  Napoleon  addresses  Prince  Andrei. 
The  medallion.  His  feverish  imaginations.  Dr.  Larrey's  diagnosis.  A 
hopeless  case. 


PART  IV  (1806-1811) 


CHAPTER  I.    Page  146 

Nikolai  goes  home  on  furlough.  Arrival.  Greetings.  Sonya's  beauty. 
Reception  of  Denisof.  The  next  morning.  Natasha's  delight.  Natasha 
burns  her  arm  for  Sonya.  Nikolai's  decision  concerning  Sonya.  Natasha 
determines  to  be  a  ballet-dancer.  Nikolai  and  Sonya.  Denisof  surprises 
Nikolai. 

CHAPTER  II.     P.  155 

Nikolai's  reception  by  his  friends.  He  drifts  away  from  Sonya.  Count 
I.  A.  Rostof's  preparation  for  a  dinner  in  honor  of  Prince  Bagration. 
Anna  Mikhailovna  sympathizes  with  Pierre's  marital  misfortunes.  Dolo- 
khof's  baseness.  The  great  banquet  at  the  English  Club.  The  leaders  of 
society.     The  heroes  of  the  war.     Berg's  fame. 


CONTENTS  IX 

CHAPTER  III.     P.  163 

The  guests.  Pierre.  Naruishkin's  story.  Shinshin'sjest.  Count  I.  A. 
Rostof's  solicitude.  Bagration's  appearance.  Nikolai  presented.  Mos- 
cow hospitality  personified.     P.  I.  Kutuzof's  cantata.     The  toasts. 

CHAPTER  IV.     P.  169 

The  anonymous  letter.  Pierre's  doubts.  Dolokhof  and  Ellen.  Dolo- 
khof 's  insult.  The  quarrel.  The  challenge.  No  apology.  The  duel  at 
Sokolniki. 

CHAPTER  V.    P.  175 

The  duel.  Dolokhof  wounded.  Dolokhof  s  tenderness  for  his  mother 
and  sister. 

CHAPTER  VI.    P.  178 

Pierre's  reflections  after  the  duel.  His  recollections  of  Ellen's  behavior. 
"Right  or  wrong?"  Pierre  and  Ellen.  Pierre's  righteous  indignation. 
Separation. 

CHAPTER  VII.     P.  183 

No  news  from  Prince  Andrei.  Kutuzof  s  letter  to  the  old  prince.  The 
old  prince  announces  the  news  to  his  daughter.  Princess  Mariya  tries  to 
tell  Liza.     Effect  of  the  news  on  the  old  prince. 

CHAPTER  VIII.     P.  188 

Liza's  confinement.  Princess  Mariya  in  her  room.  The  solemn  event. 
The  weather.  The  old  nurse's  tale.  The  dokhtor.  Arrival  of  Prince 
Andre!. 

CHAPTER  IX.     P.  193 

The  baby.  Death  of  Liza.  The  old  prince  and  his  son.  The  mute 
appeal.    The  christening  of  Nikolai  Andreyitch. 

CHAPTER  X.     P.  196 

Nikolat  appointed  adjutant  to  the  governor-general  of  Moscow.  Niko- 
lais friendship  with  Dolokhof.  Madame  Dolokhof's  admiration  for  her 
son.  Dolokhof's  lofty  philosophy.  The  happy  winter.  The  Rostofs'  home. 
Natasha's  judgment  of  Dolokhof  Of  Denisof.  Young  love.  The  com- 
ing war. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   XI.     P.  200 

Sonya  and  Dolokhof.     Dolokhuf  proposes.     Refused.     Natasha's  pre. 
diction.     Nikola!  advises  Sonya  to  reconsider. 

CHAPTER   XH.     P.  204 

logel's  ball.     The  girls  transfigured.     Denisof's  enthusiasm.    Natasha 
persuades  Denisof  to  dance  with  her.     Denisofs  wonderful  dancing. 

CHAPTER   Xni.     P.  208 

Nikola!  invited  to  dine  with  Dolokhof.     Cards  and  champagne.     Rostof 
fleeced. 

CHAPTER  XIV.     P.  212 
Nikolai's  losses.     "  When  will  you  pay  me?  " 

"      CHAPTER   XV.     P.  215 

The  Rostofs  at  home.     Denisof's  poem.     Music.     Nikolai's  thoughts. 
Suicide?    Natasha  sings.     Her  voice  and  method.     Her  power. 

CHAPTER  XVI.     P.  220 

Nikola!  confesses  his  "  debt  of  honor."     Denisof  proposes.     Refused 
His  departure. 


PART  V 

CHAPTER  I.     Page  225 

Pierre's  journey  to  Petersburg.  At  Torzhok.  Pierre's  reflections. 
"  Right  and  wrong  "  once  more.  The  screw  that  would  not  hold.  The 
little  old  man.     The  strange  servant.     The  ring. 

'  CHAPTER   II.     P.  229 

The  stranger  speaks.  Freemasonry.  God.  Belief.  Highest  wisdom. 
The  Freemason's  advice.     Bazdeyef's  influence. 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER   in.     P.  236 

Count  Villarski.     Question  anticipatory.     The  initiation.    The  seven 
virtues.     The  signs  and  symbols. 

CHAPTER  IV.     P.  245 
The  fraternity.    The  ceremony. 

CHAPTER  V.     P.  249 

The  sacred  square.  Prince  Vasili.  Pierre  refuses  to  submit  to  »rbi. 
tration.     Pierre's  departure. 

CHAPTER  VI.    P.  251   (1806) 

Popular  rumors  about  the  duel.  Ellen's  return  to  Petersburg.  Re- 
ceived  by  society.  Anna  Pavlovna's  receptions.  Boris  Drubetsko!  as  a 
lion.  Boris's  success.  Boris  relates  his  visit  to  the  Prussian  army.  Ellen 
Lakes  up  Boris. 

CHAPTER   VII.     P.  257 

Ippolit's  jest  about  "the  king  of  Prussia."  Political  conversation. 
Boris  invited  to  dine  with  Ellen. 

CHAPTER  VIII.    P.  250 

Prince  Bolkonsky  appointed  local  commander-in-chief  of  the  landwehr. 
Life  at  Luisiya  Gorui.  The  monument  to  Liza.  Prince  Andrei  at  home. 
Prince  Andrei  as  nurse.     The  baby  prince.     Letter  from  the  old  prince. 

CHAPTER   IX.     P.  264 

Bilibin's  letter.  Account  of  the  campaign.  The  baby  prince  out  of 
danger.     "  All  that  is  left  me  now." 

CHAPTER  X.    P.  270 

Pierre  visits  Kief.  Plans  for  economic  reform.  Pierre's  wealth.  His 
debts.  Pierre's  life  in  the  province.  Fulfilling  his  Masonic  obligations. 
Difficulties.     Visits  his  estates.     Illusions.     The  chief  overseer's  tricks. 


xii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XI.    P.  276 

Pierre  visits  Prince  Andrei  at  Bogucharovo.  The  estate.  Change  in 
Prince  AndreL  Discussion  of  Pierre's  affairs.  Living  for  one's  neighbor. 
Happiness  in  life.  Schools.  Physical  labor.  How  to  treat  the  peasantry. 
Prince  Andrei's  hatred  of  the  military  service.  Prince  Andrei's  account  of 
Ms  father.     Inconsistencies. 


CHAPTER   XII.    P.  286 

Journey  to  Luisiya  Gorui.  Discussion  of  man's  destiny.  Freemasonry. 
The  scene  on  the  river.  The  ladder  of  existence.  God.  The  lofty  heavens 
igain. 

CHAPTER  XIII.    P.  290 

The  "Men  of  God"  {BSzhiye  Liudi).  The  pilgrim  woman's  story. 
The  miracle.     Prince  Andref  s  "  blasphemy." 

CHAPTER  XIV.     P.  295 

The  Princess  Mariya's  solicitude  about  her  brother.  The  old  prince 
approves  of  Pierre.     Received  as  one  of  the  family. 

CHAPTER  XV.     P.  297 

Nikolai  returns  to  his  regiment.  The  army  life.  Good  resolutions. 
The  Pavlograd  regiment  (Pavlogradsui).  The  weather  in  April,  1806. 
Disease.    The  fatal  root.     Nikolai  and  the  pretty  Polka.    Almost  a  duel. 

CHAPTER  XVI.    P.  303 

Denisof  and  Nikolai  at  the  front.  The  earth-hut.  "  Mashka's  sweet- 
wort."  Games.  Denisof  in  trouble.  Denisofs  indignation.  His  fit. 
Exaggerated  account  of  Denisofs  behavior.  Denisofs  obstinate  gallantry. 
Wounded. 

CHAPTER  XVII.     P.  309 

Nikolai  visits  Denisof  at  the  hospital.  Hospital  scenes.  The  dead 
soldier. 


••• 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER   XVIII.     P.  314 

The  officers'  ward.  Captain  Tushin.  DenisoPs  document.  Asks 
pardon. 

CHAPTER  XIX.     P.  317 

The  interview  at  Tilsit  (June  25,  1806).  Boris  on  hand.  Count  Zhilin- 
ski's  dinner.  The  blue  spectacles  of  high  society.  Nikolai's  inopportune 
visit.    Nikola!  and  Boris. 

CHAPTER  XX.    P.  322 

Nikolai  tries  to  present  Denisof's  petition.  Rebuffed.  The  emperor. 
The  emperor's  decision. 

CHAPTER  XXI.     P.  327 

The  two  emperors.  Napoleon  decorates  Lazaref.  Napoleon's  appear. 
Rnce.  Comments  among  the  soldiers.  Nik  olal's  painful  reflections.  Con- 
trasts.   Nikolai's  violence  at  dinner. 


WAR  AND   PEACE 


PART   THIRD 
CHAPTER  I 


PRINCE  VASILI  was  not  in  the  habit  of  forecast- 
ino-  his  plans.  Still  less  did  he  ever  think  of  doing 
people^arm  for  the  sake  of  his  own  advantage.  He  was 
merely  a  man  of  the  world,  who  had  been  successful  m 
the  world,  so  that  success  had  become  a  sort  of  second 
nature  to  him.  He  was  always  accustomed  to  allow  cir- 
cumstances and  his  relations  to  other  men  to  modify  his 
various  plans  and  projects;  but  he  rarely  gave  himself 
a  very  scrupulous  account  of  them,  though  they  consti- 
tuted his  chief  interest  in  life.  He  managed  to  have 
not  merely  one  and  not  merely  two,  but  a  dozen,  such 
plans  and  projects  on  the  docket  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  and  thus  some  only  formulated  themselves,  some 
came  to  something,  while  others  fell  through.   ^ 

He  never  said  to  himself,  for  example:  "This  man  is 
now  in  my  power,  I  ought  to  gain  his  confidence  and 
friendship,  and  thereby  secure  myself  the  advantage  of 
his  assistance;"  or  this:  ''  Here,  Pierre  is  rich,  I  ought 
to  induce  him  to  marry  my  daughter,  and  thus  get  tne 
forty  thousand  rubles  that  I  need."  But  if  by  chance, 
he  met  the  man  in  power,  instinct  immediately  whis- 
pered to  him  that  this  man  might  be  profitable  to  him,  and 
Prince  VasHi  struck  up  a  friendship  with  him,  and  at 
the  first  opportunity,  led  by  instinct,  flattered  him  treated 
him  with  easy  familiarity,  and  finally  brought  about  the 
crucial  conversation. 


VOL.  II.  —  I 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


Pierre  was  under  his  tutelage  at  Moscow,  and  Prince 
Vasili  procured  for  him  an  appointment  as  gentleman 
in-waiting,  which  at  that  time  conferred  the  same  rank 
as  Councillor  of  State,  and  he  insisted  on  the  young 
man  accompanying  him  to  Petersburg  and  taking  up 
his  residence  in  his  own  mansion. 

Without  making  any  exertion,  and  at  the  same  time 
taking  it  absolutely  for  granted  that  he  was  on  the  right 
track.  Prince  Vasili  was  doing  all  in  his  power  to  marry 
Pierre  to  his  daughter. 

If  Prince  Vasili  had  formulated  his  plans  beforehand, 
he  could  not  have  been  so  natural  in  his  conversation, 
so  simple  and  unaffected  in  his  relations  with  all  men, 
not  only  those  above  him,  but  those  who  stood  below 
him.  There  was  something  that  ever  attracted  him  to 
men  richer  or  more  powerful  than  himself,  and  he  was 
endowed  with  the  rare  art  of  seizing  exactly  the  right 
moment  for  profiting  by  people. 

Pierre,  who  had  unexpectedly  succeeded  to  Count 
Bezukhoi's  wealth  and  title,  found  himself,  after  his  late 
life  of  loneliness  and  inaction,  surrounded  and  occupied 
to  such  a  degree  that  only  when  he  was  in  bed  could 
he  have  a  moment  entirely  to  himself.  He  was  obliged 
to  sign  letters,  to  show  himself  at  the  court-house  in 
regard  to  matters  of  which  he  had  no  clear  comprehen- 
sion, to  ask  questions  about  this  and  that,  of  his  chief 
overseer,  to  ride  out  to  his  estate  in  the  suburbs  of 
Moscow,  and  to  receive  many  people  who  hitherto  had 
ignored  his  very  existence,  but  who  would  now  be 
offended  and  insulted  if  he  refused  to  see  them. 

All  these  various  individuals  —  business  men,  rela- 
tives, acquaintances  —  were  all,  with  one  accord,  dis- 
posed to  treat  the  young  heir  in  the  most  friendly  and 
flattering  manner ;  they  were  all  indubitably  persuaded 
of  Pierre's  distinguished  merits.  He  was  constantly 
hearing  such  phrases  as :  "  With  your  extraordinary 
goodness;"  or,  **  Considering  your  kind  heart;"  or, 
*'  You  are  so  upright,  count ;  "  or,  "  If  he  were  as  clever 
as  you  are ;  "  and  so  on,  until  he  actually  began  to 
believe  in  his  extraordinary  goodness  and  his  extraor- 


! 


WAR   AND    PEACE  3 

dinary  intelligence,  all  the  more  because  always,  in  the 
depths  of  his  heart,  it  had  seemed  to  him  that  he  was 
really  very  good  and  very  clever. 

Even  people  who  before  had  been  cross  to  him  and 
showed  him  undisguised  hatred,  now  became  sweet 
and  affectionate  toward  him. 

For  example,  the  sharp-tempered  elder  sister,  the 
princess  with  the  long  waist  and  the  phenomenally 
smooth  hair,  like  a  doll's,  came  into  Pierre's  room  after 
the  funeral. 

Dropping  her  eyes  and  flushing  deeply,  she  assured 
him  how  sincerely  she  regretted  the  misunderstandings 
that  had  arisen  between  them,  and  asked  him  as  a 
special  favor,  though  she  felt  that  she  had  no  right  to 
do  so,  that  she  might  be  allowed,  after  the  blow  that 
had  befallen  her,  to  remain  for  a  few  weeks  longer  in 
the  house  which  she  had  loved  so  well,  and  where  she 
had  borne  so  many  sacrifices.  She  could  not  restrain 
her  tears,  and  wept  freely  at  these  words. 

Touched  by  the  change  that  the  statuesque  princess 
had  undergone,  Pierre  took  her  by  the  hand  and  begged 
her  forgiveness,  though  he  could  not  have  told  fot 
what.  From  that  day  the  princess  began  to  knit  Pierre 
a  striped  scarf,  and  became  entirely  different  to  him. 

"  Do  this  for  her,  my  dear  fellow,  for  she  had  much 
to  put  up  with  on  account  of  the  late  count's  whims,"  said 
Prince  Vasili,  giving  him  a  paper  to  sign  for  the  prin- 
cess's benefit.  Prince  Vasili  had  made  up  his  mind 
that  he  must  cast  this  die,  and  get  this  check  of  thirty 
thousand  rubles  for  the  poor  princess,  in  order  that  it 
might  not  enter  her  head  to  talk  about  the  part  which 
he  had  taken  in  the  matter  of  the  mosaic  portfolio. 

Pierre  signed  the  check,  and  from  that  time  forth  the 
princess  became  still  more  affectionate  to  him.  The 
younger  sisters  also  were  very  flattering  in  their  behav- 
ior to  him ;  especially  the  youngest  one  —  the  beauty 
with  the  mole  —  who  often  embarrassed  Pierre  with  her 
smiles  and  her  own  embarrassment  at  the  sight  of  him. 

It  seemed  to  Pierre  so  natural  that  everybody  should 
like  him,  it  seemed  to  him  so  unnatural  that  any  one 


4  WAR    AND    PEACE 

should  not  like  him,  that  he  could  not  help  believing  in 
the  sincerity  of  those  who  surrounded  him.  In  the  hrst 
place,  he  had  no  time  to  question  the  sincerity  or  lack 
of  sincerity.  He  had  no  time  for  anything,  but  was 
constantly  in  a  state  of  delicious  intoxication,  as  it  were. 
He  was  conscious  that  he  was  the  center  of  an  impor- 
tant social  mechanism,  felt  that  something  was  con- 
stantly expected  of  him,  that  if  he  failed  to  accomplish 
this  he  would  offend  many,  and  disappoint  their  expec- 
tations. But  if  he  did  this  thing  and  that,  all  would  be 
well,  and  he  did  whatever  was  asked  of  him,  and  always 
imagined  that  better  things  lay  in  store  for  him. 

During  this  first  part  of  the  time.  Prince  Vasili,  more 
than  any  one  else,  undertook  the  management  of  Pierre 
and  his  affairs.  After  Count  Bezukhoi's  death,  he 
scarcely  let  Pierre  out  of  his  sight.  Prince  Vasili  acted 
Hke  a  man  who,  though  overburdened  with  business, 
wearied,  and  careworn,  was  so  filled  with  sympathy  that 
he  found  it  impossible  to  leave  this  helpless  young  man, 
the  son  of  his  old  friend,  and  the  possessor  of  such  an 
enormous  fortune,  to  the  play  of  fate  and  the  designs  of 
knaves. 

During  the  few  days  which  he  spent  in  Moscow  after 
Count  Bezukhoi's  death,  he  kept  calling  Pierre  to  him 
or  going  himself  to  Pierre,  and  instructed  him  on  his 
duties  in  a  tone  of  such  weariness  and  assurance  that 
he  seemed  to  say  each  time :  *  You  know  that  I  am 
overwhelmed  with  business;  but  it  would  be  heartless 
in  me  to  leave  you  now ;  and  you  know  that  what  I  tell 
you  is  the  only  thing  feasible.' 

"  Well,  my  dear  fellow,  to-morrow  we  will  start  at 
last,"  said  he  one  day,  closing  his  eyes  and  touching 
Pierre's  elbow  with  his  fingers,  while  his  voice  had  a 
tone  which  seemed  to  imply  that  this  had  long,  long 
ago  been  decided  on  and  was  now  perfectly  beyond 
question. 

"  To-morrow  we  start ;  I  will  give  you  a  place  in  my 
carriage.  I  am  glad.  We  have  done  everything  neces- 
sary here,  and  I  ought  to  have  been  at  home  long  ago. 
Here  's  what  I  got  from  the  chancellor.     I  asked  him 


WAR   AND    PEACE  5 

for  it  for  you  :  you  have  a  place  in  the  diplomatic  corps, 
and  are  appointed  gentleman-in-waiting.  The  diplo- 
matic career  is  now  open  to  you." 

Notwithstanding  the  tone  of  weariness  and  assurance 
in  which  these  words  were  spoken,  Pierre,  who  for  some 
time  had  been  thinking  about  his  future,  began  to  make 
an  objection.  But  Prince  Vasili  interrupted  him  and 
spoke  on  in  that  low,  persuasive  tone  which  effectually 
prevents  any  one  from  breaking  into  a  man's  discourse, 
and  which  he  employed  in  cases  where  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  meet  a  final  objection. 

"  But,  my  dear  fellow,  I  did  this  for  my  own  sake, 
to  satisfy  my  own  conscience,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
thank  me  for.  No  one  ever  complained  of  being  too 
well  loved ;  but  then,  you  are  free ;  you  can  leave  to- 
morrow. Then  you  can  see  for  yourself  in  Petersburg. 
It  is  high  time  that  you  left  these  scenes  of  painful  rec- 
ollections." Prince  Vasili  sighed.  ''Well,  well,  my 
dear.  And  let  my  valet  follow  in  your  carriage.  Oh, 
yes,  I  had  almost  forgotten,"  added  Prince  Vasili. 
''You  know,  my  friend,  we  had  some  accounts  with  the 
late  lamented,  and  so  I  have  collected  and  kept  the 
money  from  your  Riazan  property ;  you  don't  need  it. 
We  will  settle  it  up  afterwards." 

What  Prince  Vasili  called  "from  the  Riazan"  prop- 
erty was  a  few  thousand  rubles  of  obrok,  or  peasants' 
quit-rent,  which  he  had  appropriated  for  his  own  use. 

In  Petersburg,  just  the  same  as  in  Moscow,  Pierre 
found  himself  surrounded  by  an  atmosphere  of  affection 
and  love.  He  could  not  decline  the  office,  or  rather 
sinecure,  —  for  he  had  nothing  to  do,  —  which  Prince 
Vasili  had  procured  for  him,  but  he  was  so  engrossed 
with  acquaintances,  invitations,  and  social  duties,  that 
he  felt,  even  more  than  in  Moscow,  the  sense  of  confu- 
sion, hurry,  and  of  happiness  ever  beckoning  but  never 
becoming  realized. 

Many  of  the  set  of  gay  young  bachelors  with  whom 
he  had  formerly  been  intimate  were  now  absent  from 
Petersburg.     The  Guard  were  away  on  the  campaign ; 


6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Dolokhof  was  serving  in  the  ranks ;  Anatol  had  joined 
the  army,  and  had  been  sent  into  the  province;  Prince 
Andrei  was  abroad,  and  therefore  Pierre  had  no  chance 
to  spend  his  nights  as  he  had  once  liked  to  do,  or  in 
occasionally  engaging  in  confidential  talks  with  his  old 
and  treasured  friend.  All  his  time  was  spent  in  dinners 
and  balls,  and  preeminently  at  Prince  Vasili's,  in  the 
society  of  the  portly  princess,  his  wife,  and  the  beautiful 
Ellen. 

Anna  Pavlovna  Scherer,  like  everybody  else,  made 
Pierre  feel  the  change  which  had  come  over  society  in 
regard  to  him. 

Hitherto,  Pierre,  in  Anna  Pavlovna's  presence,  had 
constantly  felt  that  whatever  he  said  was  unbecoming, 
wanting  in  tact,  unsuitable ;  that  his  speeches,  however 
sensible  they  might  seem  while  he  was  getting  them 
ready  in  his  mind,  were  idiotic  as  soon  as  he  spoke  them 
aloud ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Ippolit's  most  stupid 
utterances  were  regarded  as  wise  and  witty.  Now, 
however,  everything  that  he  said  was  greeted  with  the 
epithet  'charming.'  Even  if  Anna  Pavlovna  did  not 
say  this,  still  he  was  made  to  see  that  she  meant  it,  and 
that  she  refrained  from  saying  it  only  out  of  regard  for 
his  modesty. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  winter  of  1 805-1 806,  Pierre 
received  from  Anna  Pavlovna  the  usual  pink  note  of 
invitation,  and  with  this  postscript :  "  The  beautiful 
Ellen  will  be  with  us,  whom  one  is  never  tired  of 
looking  at." 

On  reading  this  sentence,  Pierre  for  the  first  time 
realized  that  a  peculiar  bond  had  sprung  up  between 
him  and  Ellen,  recognized  by  other  people,  and  this 
thought  alarmed  him  because  it  seemed  to  place  him 
under  some  sort  of  an  obligation  which  he  could  not 
fulfil,  and  at  the  same  time  it  pleased  him  as  an  amus- 
ing situation. 

Anna  Pavlovna's  reception  was  exactly  like  the 
former  one,  except  that  the  dessert  with  which  she 
regaled  her  guests  was  not  Montemart  as  before,  but 
a  diplomat  who  had  just  arrived  from  Berlin,  bringing 


WAR   AND    PEACE  7 

the  freshest  details  about  the  visit  of  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander at  Potsdam,  and  how  the  two  most  august  friends 
had  there  sworn  an  oath  of  eternal  alliance  to  protect 
the  cause  of  right  against  the  enemy  of  the  human  race. 

Pierre  was  received  by  Anna  Pavlovna  with  a  shade 
of  melancholy,  evidently  having  reference  to  the  recent 
loss  which  the  young  man  had  undergone  in  the  death 
of  Count  Bezukhoi,  —  every  one  constantly  felt  it  their 
duty  to  assure  Pierre  that  he  was  greatly  afflicted  by  his 
father's  taking  off,  although  he  could  hardly  be  said  to 
have  known  him,  —  and  in  Anna  Pavlovna's  case  this 
melancholy  was  almost  equal  to  that  high  degree  of 
melancholy  which  she  always  manifested  at  the  men- 
tion of  the  most  august  Empress  Maria  Feodorovna. 
Pierre  felt  himself  quite  overwhelmed  by  this. 

Anna  Pavlovna,  with  her  usual  art,  arranged  the 
circles  of  her  drawing-room.  The  largest,  in  which 
Prince  Vasili  and  the  generals  were  conspicuous,  was 
enjoying  the  diplomat's  conversation.  Still  another 
group  was  gathered  about  the  tea-table.  Pierre  was 
anxious  to  join  the  former,  but  Anna  Pavlovna,  who 
was  in  the  excitable  state  of  a  great  captain  on  the  field 
of  battle,  when  a  thousand  new  and  brilliant  ideas  are 
struggling  almost  hopelessly  for  a  successful  accom- 
plishment,—  Anna  Pavlovna,  seeing  Pierre's  motion, 
laid  her  finger  on  his  sleeve. 

*' Wait,  I  have  designs  on  you  for  this  evening." 

She  glanced  at  Ellen,  and  gave  her  a  smile. 

"  My  dear  Ellen,  you  must  be  good  to  my  poor  aunt, 
who  has  conceived  a  perfect  adoration  for  you.  Go  and 
spend  ten  minutes  with  her.  And  lest  it  should  be  very 
tiresome  to  you,  here  is  our  dear  count,  who  certainly 
will  not  fail  to  follow  you." 

The  beauty  went  over  to  ma  tante,  but  Anna  Pavlovna 
detained  the  young  man,  pretending  that  she  had  still 
some  indispensable  arrangement  to  complete. 

*'  Charming  !  is  n't  she  .?  "  said  she  to  Pierre,  referring 
to  the  stately  beauty  who  was  sailing  away.  ''  And  so 
self-possessed,  and  so  much  tact  for  a  young  girl,  such 
wonderful  capability  and  dignity.     It  all  comes  natural 


8  WAR   AND    PEACE 

to  her.  Fortunate  will  be  the  man  who  secures  her^. 
With  her  a  man,  even  of  the  humblest  position  in 
society,  could  not  fail  to  attain  the  most  brilliant  posi- 
tion. Is  n't  that  so  ?  I  only  wanted  to  know  your 
opinion." 

And  Anna  Pavlovna  released  Pierre. 

Pierre  had  honestly  replied  in  the  affirmative  to  her 
question  about  Ellen's  art  of  self-reliance.  Whenever 
he  thought  of  Ellen,  he  thought  of  her  beauty,  and  of 
her  extraordinary  ability  at  appearing  grave  and  digni- 
fied in  society. 

Ma  tante  received  the  two  young  people  in  her 
corner,  but  it  seemed  as  if  she  were  trying  to  hide  her 
adoration  for  Ellen,  and  make  rather  a  show  of  awe  for 
Anna  Pavlovna.  She  glanced  at  her  niece  as  if  asking 
how  she  should  behave  toward  these  people.  As  Anna 
Pavlovna  turned  away,  she  again  touched  Pierre's  sleeve 
with  her  finger,  and  said  :  — 

"I  hope  that  you  won't  say  another  time  that  you  are 
bored  at  my  house,"  and  she  glanced  at  Ellen. 

Ellen  smiled  back  with  a  look  which  seemed  to  say 
that  she  could  not  admit  the  possibility  of  any  one  see- 
ing her  and  not  being  delighted.  The  aunt  coughed, 
swallowed  down  the  phlegm,  and  said  in  French  that 
she  was  very  glad  to  see  Ellen ;  then  she  turned  to 
Pierre  with  the  same  compliment  and  the  same  look. 
During  their  tedious  and  desultory  conversation,  Ellen 
glanced  at  Pierre,  and  smiled  upon  him  with  the  same 
bright  and  radiant  smile  that  she  bestowed  upon  all 
people.  Pierre  was  so  accustomed  to  this  smile,  that  it 
made  little  impression  on  him,  and  he  gave  it  no  special 
attention.  The  aunt  happened  at  that  moment  to  be 
speaking  about  a  collection  of  snuff-boxes,  which  had 
belonged  to  Pierre's  late  father.  Count  Bezukhoi,  and 
she  showed  him  her  own  snuff-box.  The  Princess  Ellen 
asked  to  see  the  portrait  of  her  husband  painted  in  min- 
iature on  the  cover. 

•'That  is  apparently  the  work  of  Vinnes,"  remarked 
Pierre,  mentioning  the  name  of  a  distinguished  minia- 
ture painter.     He  leaned  over  the  table  to  take  up  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  9 

snuff-box,  but  all  the  time  he  was  listening  to  the  con- 
versation at  the  other  table.  He  got  up,  intending  to 
pass  around ;  but  the  aunt  handed  him  the  snuff-box, 
passing  it  directly  behind  Ellen.  Ellen  moved  aside  to 
give  room,  and,  as  she  looked  up,  she  smiled.  In  accor- 
dance with  the  custom  of  the  day,  she  wore  a  dress  cut 
very  low  both  in  front  and  behind.  Her  bust,  which 
always  reminded  Pierre  of  marble,  was  so  near  to  him  that 
even  with  his  near-sighted  eyes  he  could  not  help  seeing 
the  exquisite  beauty  of  her  neck  and  shoulders,  and  if 
he  had  stooped  but  a  little,  his  lips  would  have  touched 
her  neck.  He  was  conscious  of  the  warmth  of  her 
body,  the  faint  breath  of  some  perfume,  and  the  rustle 
of  her  corset  as  she  moved.  He  saw  not  the  statuesque 
beauty  which  agreed  so  well  with  the  color  of  her  dress, 
he  saw  and  felt  the  whole  charm  of  her  form,  concealed, 
as  it  was,  only  by  her  drapery.  And  having  once  seen 
this,  his  eyes  refused  to  see  her  in  any  other  way,  just 
as  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  recall  an  illusion  which  has 
once  been  explained. 

*  And  so  you  have  not  noticed  before  how  charming 
I  am  ? '  Ellen  seemed  to  say ;  *  have  you  not  noticed 
that  I  am  a  woman  ?  Yes,  I  am  a  woman,  whom  any 
man  might  win,  —  even  you,'  her  look  seemed  to  say. 
And  at  that  instant,  Pierre  was  conscious  that  Ellen  not 
only  might  be,  but  that  she  must  be,  his  wife,  that  it 
could  not  be  otherwise. 

He  knew  this  at  this  instant  just  as  surely  as  he 
would  have  known  it  had  he  been  standing  with  her 
under  the  bridal  crown. 

How  would  this  be  ?  and  when  would  it  be  ? 

He  could  not  tell,  he  was  not  sure  that  it  would  be 
the  best  thing  for  him  ;  he  even  had  a  dim  conscious- 
ness that  somehow  it  would  not  be  for  the  best,  but  still 
he  knew  that  it  would  be.  Pierre  dropped  his  eyes, 
then  raised  them,  and  tried  once  more  to  see  that 
beauty  so  far  off  and  foreign  to  him,  as  it  were,  which 
he  had  seen  every  day  before  ;  but  he  found  it  impos- 
sible. He  no  more  could  recall  his  former  thought  of 
her  than  a  man  who,   having  seen  a  blade   of   steppe 


lo  WAR   AND    PEACE 

grass  in  the  mist  and  mistaken  it  for  a  tree,  could  ever 
be  deceived  into  taking  the  blade  of  grass  for  a  tree 
again.  She  was  terribly  near  to  him  ;  already  she  had 
begun  to  wield  her  power  over  him.  And  between  him 
and  her  there  was  no  longer  any  impediment  except  the 
impediment  of  his  own  will. 

"  Excellent !  I  leave  you  in  your  quiet  corner.  I  see 
you  are  getting  along  very  well  there,"  said  Anna 
Pavlovna's  voice. 

And  Pierre,  coming  to  his  senses  with  a  start  of  terror 
lest  he  had  been  guilty  of  something  reprehensible, 
reddened  and  glanced  around.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
all  knew  as  well  as  he  himself  did,  what  had  happened 
to  him. 

After  a  little  while,  when  he  had  joined  the  large 
circle,  Anna  Pavlovna  said  to  him,  "  I  hear  that  you  are 
refitting  your  Petersburg  house." 

This  was  true  ;  the  architect  had  told  him  that  it  was 
needful  to  be  done,  and  Pierre,  though  he  did  not  know 
why,  allowed  the  huge  mansion  to  be  improved. 
"That 's  a  good  plan,  but  I  would  n't  give  up  your  quar- 
ters at  Prince  Vasili's.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  a 
friend  like  the  prince,"  said  she,  smiling  at  Prince 
Vasi'li.  "  I  know  something  about  it,  do  I  not .''  And 
you  are  still,  so  young.  You  need  some  one  to  advise 
you.  You  are  not  angry  with  me  for  exercising  the 
prerogative  of  an  old  woman,  I  hope } "  She  added 
this  in  Russian,  and  paused  as  women  always  pause, 
expecting  something  complimentary,  when  they  have 
been  mentioning  their  age.  "  If  you  marry,  that  would 
be  a  different  thing."  And  she  united  them  in  one  sig- 
nificant glance.  Pierre  did  not  look  at  Ellen,  but  she 
looked  at  him.  But  all  the  time  she  was  terribly  close 
to  him.     He  stammered  something  and  reddened. 

After  he  returned  home,  Pierre  was  long  unable  to 
sleep,  for  thinking  of  what  had  happened  to  him. 

What  had  happened  to  him  .'' 

Nothing! 

All  he  knew  was  that  a  woman  whom  he  had  known 
as  a  child,  of  whom  he  had  often  heedlessly  said,  **  Yes, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  ii 

she 's  pretty,"  when  he  was  told  that  Ellen  was  a  beauty, 
might  be  his. 

''  But  she  is  stupid ;  I  myself  have  declared  that  she 
is  stupid,"  he  said  to  himself.  ''There  is  something 
revolting  in  the  feeling  that  she  stirs  in  me, —  some- 
thing repulsive.  I  have  been  told  that  her  own  brother 
Anatol  was  in  love  with  her,  and  that  she  loved  him  in 
return;  that  there  was  quite  a  scandal  about  it,  and 
that  was  the  reason  why  Anatol  was  sent  away.  Ippolit 
is  her  brother.  Her  father  —  Prince  VasiU....  it 's  all 
ugly,"  he  went  on  thinking,  and  even  while  he  came  to 
this  decision,  —  such  considerations  are  endless,  —  he 
found  himself  to  his  surprise  indulging  in  a  smile,  and 
acknowledged  that  another  series  of  considerations  were 
arising  in  his  mind ;  that  while  he  was  thinking  of  her 
faults  he  was  at  the  same  time  dreaming  how  she  would 
be  his  wife,  how  she  might  be  in  love  with  him,  how  she 
might  be  quite  different,  and  how  all  that  he  had  heard 
and  thought  about  her  might  be  untrue.  And  again  he 
saw  her,  not  as  Prince  Vasili's  daughter,  but  as  a 
woman,  her  form  concealed  merely  by  her  gray  gown. 

"  But  no,  why  has  this  idea  never  entered  my  mind 
before.?"  And  again  he  assured  himself  that  it  was 
impossible,  that  there  would  be  something  shameful, 
contrary  to  nature,  something,  as  it  seemed,  dishonor- 
able to  him,  in  this  marriage.  He  recalled  her  words 
and  glances,  and  the  words  and  glances  of  those  who 
had  seen  them  together.  He  remembered  Anna  Pav- 
lovna's  words  and  looks  when  she  spoke  to  him  about 
his  house ;  he  remembered  a  thousand  similar  insinua- 
tions on  the  part  of  Prince  Vasi'li  and  others;  and  a 
sense  of  horror  came  over  him,  lest  he  had  bound  him- 
self by  the  very  undertaking  of  such  a  project,  a  proj- 
ect which  was  evidently  wrong,  and  which  he  ought 
not  to  have  undertaken.  But  at  the  very  time  that  he 
came  to  this  decision,  in  the  other  half  of  his  mind 
arose  her  form  in  all  its  womanly  beauty. 


12  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   II 

In  November,  1805,  Prince  Vasi'li  was  obliged  to  go 
to  four  governments  on  a  tour  of  inspection.^  He  had 
secured  this  commission  for  himself  so  as  to  visit  one  of 
his  ruined  estates,  and  it  was  his  intention,  having 
picked  up  his  son  Anatol,  who  was  with  his  regiment  at 
one  of  the  places  on  his  route,  to  go  with  him  on  a  visit 
to  Prince  Nikolai  Andreyevitch  Bolkonsky,  so  as  to 
marry  this  same  son  to  the  daughter  of  this  wealthy 
old  man. 

But  before  starting  on  this  journey  and  undertaking 
these  new  duties,  Prince  Vasili  felt  called  upon  to  bring 
Pierre's  little  affair  to  a  crisis.  The  truth  was,  Pierre, 
during  these  latter  days  of  his  visit  at  Prince  Vasili's, 
had  lately  been  spending  whole  days  at  home,  that  is  to 
say,  at  Prince  Vasili's,  where  he  was  staying,  and  was 
absurd,  agitated,  and  moping  in  Ellen's  presence,  —  the 
proper  condition  of  a  man  in  love,  —  but  still  he  had 
not  made  his  declaration. 

"  All  this  is  very  well  and  good,  but  it  must  be 
decided,"  said  Prince  Vasi'li  one  morning,  with  a  melan- 
choly sigh,  confessing  to  himself  that  Pierre,  consider- 
ing under  what  obligations  he  was  to  him  ("though 
Christ  be  with  him !  "  ),  was  not  behaving  very  nicely  in 
this  matter.  "Youth ....  fickleness.  Well,  God  bless 
him !  "  ....  said  Prince  Vasi'li,  with  a  feeling  of  satisfac- 
tion at  his  own  benevolence;  "but  it  must  be  decided. 
Day  after  to-morrow  is  Lyolya's  birthday ;  I  will  have 
a  little  party  for  her,  and  if  he  does  not  come  up  to  the 
point  in  seeing  what  his  duty  is,  then  it  will  be  my 
affair.     Yes,  my  affair.     I  am  her  father." 

A  fortnight  after  Anna  Pavlovna's  reception,  and  the 
sleepless,  agitated  night  that  followed  it,  when  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  that  to  marry  Ellen  would  lead  to 
unhappiness,  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  flee  from  her, 
and  go  away,  Pierre,  in  spite  of  this  decision,  was  still 

^  Russia  is  divided  into  gudernie,  or  governments;  these  again  into 
uyhdit  districts. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  13 

at  Prince  Vasili's,  and  felt  with  a  sort  of  horror  that 
each  day  he  was  becoming,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
more  and  more  attached  to  her;  that  he  could  not 
return  to  his  former  way  of  looking  upon  her ;  could 
not  tear  himself  from  her  ;  that  it  was  abominable,  but 
still  he  must  link  his  fate  with  hers.  Perhaps  he  might 
have  kept  away,  but  scarcely  a  day  passed  without 
Prince  VasiU's  having  company  —  though  formerly  he 
had  so  rarely  given  receptions  —  and  Pierre  was  obliged 
to  be  present,  unless  he  were  wiUing  to  disturb  the  general 
contentment,  and  disappoint  the  expectation  of  all. 

Prince  Vasi'li,  during  those  rare  moments  when  he 
was  at  home,  as  he  passed  by  Pierre,  would  draw  his 
head  down,  carelessly  offer  him  his  shaven,  wrinkled 
cheek  to  kiss,  and  say:  "Till  to-morrow,"  or  ''We'll 
meet  at  dinner,  or  else  I  shall  not  see  you,"  or,  "  I  stay 
at  home  for  your  sake,"  or  the  like. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Prince  Vasi'li,  ac- 
cording to  his  own  account,  stayed  at  home  for  Pierre's 
sake,  he  did  not  exchange  two  words  with  him,  and  yet, 
Pierre  did  not  feel  himself  strong  enough  to  disappoint 
him.  Each  day  he  said  to  himself  ever  the  same  thing: 
"  I  must  in  the  end  understand  her  and  explain  her  — 
what  is  she }  Was  I  mistaken  in  her  before,  or  am  I 
mistaken  now.?  No,  she  is  not  stupid.  No,  she  is  a 
beautiful  girl,"  he  said  to  himself  from  time  to  time. 
Never  did  she  make  a  single  error;  never,  by  any 
chance,  did  she  say  anything  stupid.  She  spoke  little, 
but  what  she  said  was  always  simple  and  clear.  So  she 
could  not  be  stupid.  Never  was  she  agitated  or  con- 
fused.    She  could  not  be  a  vile  woman ! 

Often  it  chanced  that  he  began  to  discuss  with  her, 
or  to  utter  his  thoughts  in  her  hearing,  but  every  time 
she  replied  in  some  brief  but  appropriately  worded  re- 
mark, showing  that  she  was  not  interested,  or  else  with 
a  silent  smile  and  look,  which  more  palpably  than  any- 
thing else  proved  to  Pierre  her  superiority.  She  was  in 
the  right,  for  she  made  it  evident  that  all  arguments 
and  reasonings  were  rubbish  in  comparison  with  this 
smile. 


14  WAR   AND    PEACE 

She  always  treated  him  with  a  radiant,  confiding,  and 
confidential  smile,  which  was  meant  for  himself  alone, 
as  though  there  were  in  it  something  more  significant 
than  there  was  in  that  smile  which  she  wore  for  the 
world  in  general.  Pierre  knew  that  all  were  waiting 
for  him  at  last  to  speak  the  one  word  needful,  to  step 
over  the  certain  line,  and  he  knew  that,  sooner  or  later,  he 
should  cross  it ;  a  strange  and  invincible  horror  seized 
him  at  the  mere  thought  of  this  momentous  step.  A  thou- 
sand times  in  the  course  of  this  fortnight,  during  which 
he  felt  himself  all  the  time  drawn  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  terrible  gulf,  he  said  to  himself:  "What  does 
it  mean  ?    What  I  need  is  decision  !     Why  do  I  lack  it.? " 

He  was  anxious  to  come  to  a  decision,  but  felt  with 
horror  that,  in  this  matter,  he  was  not  displaying  the 
strength  of  will  which  he  knew  he  had,  and  which  he 
really  had. 

Pierre  belonged  to  the  number  of  those  who  are 
strong  only  when  they  have  the  consciousness  of  being 
perfectly  pure.  But  ever  since  he  had  begun  to  be  over- 
mastered by  the  feeling  of  sensual  desire  that  came  upon 
him  at  Anna  Pavlovna's,  during  the  scene  with  the  snuff- 
box, an  undefined  sense  of  guilt  had  paralyzed  his  will- 
power. 

On  the  evening  of  Ellen's  name-day,  a  small  party  of 
friends  and  relatives,  — "  Our  nearest  and  dearest," 
as  the  princess  expressed  it,  —  took  supper  at  Prince 
Vasili's.  All  these  friends  and  relatives  were  given  to 
understand  that,  on  this  day,  the  young  lady's  fate 
was  to  be  decided.  The  guests  were  seated  in  the  din- 
ing-room. The  Princess  Kuragina,  a  portly,  imposing 
woman,  who  had  once  been  famous  for  her  beauty,  sat 
at  the  head  of  the. table.  On  each  side  of  her  were 
placed  the  more  important  guests,  —  an  old  general,  his 
wife,  and  Anna  Pavlovna  Scherer ;  at  the  other  end  of 
the  table  were  the  younger  and  less  honored  guests; 
and  there,  also,  sat  the  various  members  of  the  house- 
hold —  Pierre  and  Ellen  side  by  side. 

Prince  Vasili  did  not  sit  down  with  the  rest ;  he  walked 
around  the  table,  in  a  jocund  mood,  stopping  to  chat 


WAR   AND    PEACE  15 

now  with  one,  now  with  another  of  his  guests,  speaking 
"some  Hght  and  pleasant  word  to  all,  except  Pierre  and 
Ellen,  whose  presence  he  seemed  entirely  to  ignore. 

Prince  Vasi'li  was  the  very  life  of  the  company. 

The  wax  candles  burned  brightly,  the  silver  and  cut 
glass  gleamed,  the  jewels  of  the  ladies  and  the  gold  and 
silver  epaulets  of  the  officers  glistened.  The  clatter  of 
knives  and  plates  and  glasses,  and  the  hum  of  lively 
conversation,  were  heard  around  the  table.  An  aged 
chamberlain,  at  one  end,  was  heard  assuring  an  aged 
baroness  of  his  passionate  love  for  her,  while  her  laugh 
in  reply  rang  out.  At  the  other  end  some  one  was  tell- 
ing of  the  misfortune  that  had  befallen  a  certain  Marya 
Viktorovna.  Near  the  center  of  the  table,  Prince  Vasi'li 
had  attracted  a  little  circle  of  auditors,  and  was  telling 
the  ladies,  with  a  facetious  smile  on  his  face,  of  the  last 
meeting,  on  Wednesday,  of  the  Imperial  Council,  at 
which  Sergyef  Kuzmitch  Vyazmitinof,  the  new  military 
governor-general  of  Petersburg,  received  and  read  the 
then  famous  rescript  addressed  to  him  from  the  army 
headquarters,  by  the  Emperor  Alexander  Pavlovitch. 

The  emperor  declared  that  he  was  receiving  from  all 
sides  proofs  of  the  devotion  of  the  people,  and  that  the 
demonstration  of  Petersburg  was  particularly  delightful 
to  him,  that  he  was  proud  of  being  the  head  of  such  a 
nation,  and  would  do  all  in  his  power  to  prove  himself 
worthy  of  the  honor.  This  rescript  began  with  these 
words :  *'  Sergyel  Kuzmitch :  From  all  sides,  reports 
reach  me....'' 

''  And  so  he  could  not  get  further  than  'Sergyel  Kuz- 
mitch '  .^  "  asked  a  lady. 

*'  No,  not  a  hair's  breadth,"  replied  Prince  Vasi'li, 
laughing.  '''Sergyel  Kuzmitch:  from  all  sides ....  Ser- 
gyel Kuzmitch!  from  all  sides.'  Poor  Vyazmitinof 
could  not  get  any  farther.  Several  times  he  began 
the  letter  over  again,  but  could  only  say,  'Sergyel ....' 
then  sohs, ....' Ku  ....  zmi ....  tchj — tears,  and  then  the 
words,  —  'from  all  sides  '  were  drowned  in  sobs,  and  he 
could  not  get  any  further.  And  again  his  handkerchief, 
and  again,  *  Sergyel  Kuzmitch  from  all  sides  '  and  more 


i6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

tears,  until  at  last  he  had  to  get  some  one  else  to  real 
It  for  him." 

*• '  Kuzmitch  ....  from  all  sides  ' ....  and  tears,"  repeated 
some  one  with  a  laugh. 

"  Don't  be  naughty,"  exclaimed  Anna  Pavlovna,  from 
the  other  end  of  the  table,  and  raising  her  finger  threat- 
eningly, "  our  good  Vyazmitmof  is  such  a  dear,  excellent 
man." 

This  greatly  amused  the  company.  At  the  upper  end 
of  the  table,  where  sat  the  honorary  guests,  all  were  ap- 
parently in  jovial  spirits,  and  under  the  influence  of  the 
most  varied  and  lively  emotions ;  but  Pierre  and  Ellen 
sat  silent,  side  by  side,  at  the  lower  end  of  the  table ; 
on  the  faces  of  each  hovered  a  radiant  smile,  not  evoked 
by  the  story  about  Sergyei*  Kuzmitch,  but  rather  a 
smile  of  bashfulness  at  their  own  thoughts.  The  others 
might  chatter  and  laugh  and  jest,  they  might  with 
good  appetite  enjoy  the  Rhine  wine  and  the  sauti 
and  the  ices,  they  might  let  their  eyes  avoid  resting  on 
that  couple,  they  might  seem  to  be  quite  indifferent 
and  even  to  ignore  their  existence ;  nevertheless,  there 
was  something  in  the  very  atmosphere  which  made  it 
evident  by  the  furtive  glances  bent  upon  them,  that  the 
anecdote  about  Sergyei  Kuzmitch  and  the  laugh  that  it 
evoked,  and  the  dinner,  and  everything  were  but  merely 
pretense ;  and  that  the  energies  of  the  whole  company 
were,  in  reality,  devoted  to  this  young  couple,  Pierre 
and  Ellen,  even  while  Prince  Vasili  was  imitating  the 
lachrymose  Sergyei  Kuzmitch.  All  the  time  his  glance 
sought  his  daughter,  and,  even  when  he  was  laughing 
his  heartiest,  the  expression  of  his  face  seemed  to  say : 
"  Yes,  yes,  it  is  going  all  right ;  it  will  be  decided  this 
evening." 

Anna  Pavlovna,  when  she  threatened  him  with  out 
good  Vyazmiizjiof,  let  Prince  Vasili  read  in  her  eyes,  as 
they  flashed  for  a  moment  in  Pierre's  direction,  a  con- 
gratulation for  his  daughter's  coming  marriage  and 
good  fortune. 

The  old  princess,  as  she  offered  a  glass  of  wine  to 
her    neighbor   with    a   melancholy   sigh,    and    glanced 


WAR   AND    PEACE  17 

gravely  toward  her  daughter,  seemed  to  say  by  this 
sigh  :  — 

•  Yes,  my  dear,  now  there  is  nothing  left  for  us  but  to 
sip  sweet  wine ;  now  it  is  the  young  people's  turn  to  be 
so  insolently,  defiantly  happy.' 

"And  what  melancholy  rubbish,  all  that  I  have  to 
say  is !  As  if  it  meant  anything !  "  thought  the  old 
diplomat,  as  he  gazed  at  the  happy  faces  of  the  lovers ; 
''  yonder  is  true  happiness  !  " 

Amid  these  mean,  petty,  and  artificial  interests  unit- 
ing this  company,  there  arose  the  natural  feeling  of 
attraction  felt  for  each  other  by  a  handsome  and  health- 
ful young  man  and  woman.  And  this  human  feeling 
put  to  naught  and  soared  above  all  their  artificial  babble. 
The  jests  were  not  amusing,  the  news  was  not  interest- 
ing, the  liveliness  was  only  counterfeited.  Not  only 
they,  but  also  the  servants,  waiting  on  the  table,  seemed 
to  feel  the  same  thing,  and  forget  the  proprieties  of  the 
service,  as  they  gazed  on  beautiful  Ellen,  with  her  radi- 
ant face,  and  on  Pierre's  comely,  stout  face,  so  happy 
and  so  uneasy.  It  even  seemed  as  if  the  light  from 
the  candles  were  all  concentrated  on  these  two  happy 
faces.  Pierre  was  conscious  that  he  was  the  center  of 
everything,  and  this  position  both  pleased  him  and 
made  him  uncomfortable.  He  found  himself  in  the 
position  of  a  man  plunged  in  some  sort  of  absorbing 
occupation.  He  saw  nothing,  heard  nothing,  under- 
stood nothing  clearly.  Only  occasionally,  through  his 
consciousness,  flashed  fragmentary  thoughts  and  expres- 
sions of  the  reality. 

"And  so  it  is  all  over,"  he  said  to  himself.  "How  in 
the  world  did  it  ever  happen  ^  It  was  so  sudden ! 
Now  I  know  that  not  for  her  sake  alone,  nor  for  my 
own  sake  alone,  but  for  the  sake  of  all,  //its  mu§t  be  ac- 
complished without  fail.  They  all  expect  t/n's  so  con- 
fidently, they  are  so  certain  that  it  will  take  place,  that 
I  cannot,  I  cannot  disappoint  them.  But  how  will  it 
take  place  ,!^  I  know  not;  but  it  will  be,  it  infallibly 
must  be!"  thought  Pierre,  as  he  glanced  at  those 
shoulders  gleaming  so  near  him. 


1 8  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Then  suddenly  a  feeling  of  humiliation  mingled  in  his 
thoughts.  He  felt  embarrassed  to  be  the  object  of  gen- 
eral attention,  to  be  '*  a  lucky  man  "  in  the  eyes  of  all 
others,  to  be  another,  though  homely,  Paris,  possessing 
his  Helen  of  Troy. 

"  But,  to  be  sure,  this  has  always  been,  and  therefore 
it  must  be  so,"  he  said,  trying  to  comfort  himself. 
"  And,  besides,  what  have  I  done  to  bring  it  about  ? 
When  did  it  begin  ?  I  came  from  Moscow  with  Prince 
Vasi'li.  There  was  certainly  nothing  in  that.  Then 
what  harm  was  there  in  my  staying  at  his  house  ? 
And  so  I  played  cards  with  her,  and  picked  up  her  reti- 
cule, and  went  to  drive  with  her.  When  did  it  begin, 
when  did  it  ail  begin  ?  " 

And  now  here  he  is  sitting  by  her  in  the  quality  of 
accepted  suitor,  hearing,  seeing,  feeling  her  presence, 
her  breathing,  her  every  motion,  her  beauty.  Then 
suddenly  it  seemed  to  him  that  it  was  not  she  who 
was  the  beauty,  but  he  himself,  and  to  such  an  ex- 
traordinary degree  that  all  had  to  look  at  him,  and 
that  he,  delighting  in  this  universal  admiration,  swelled 
out  his  chest,  raised  his  head  high,  and  rejoiced  in 
his  own  happiness.  Suddenly  he  heard  a  voice,  a  well- 
known  voice,  speaking,  and  saying  something  for  the 
second  time.  But  Pierre  was  so  absorbed,  that  he  did 
not  comprehend  what  was  said  to  him. 

"  I  asked  you  when  you  heard  last  from  Bolkonsky," 
said  Prince  Vasili  for  the  third  time.  *'  How  absent- 
minded  you  are,  my  dear  fellow  !  " 

Prince  Vasili  smiled.  And  Pierre  saw  that  all,  all 
were  smiling  at  him  and  at  Ellen.  "  Well,  suppose  you 
all  do  know !  "  said  Pierre  to  himself.  "What  then  .'^ 
It  is  true,"  and  he  himself  smiled  his  sweet,  childlike 
smile,  and  Ellen  also  smiled. 

"  When  did  you  get  the  letter  ?  Was  it  from  Olmiitz  ?  " 
repeated  Prince  Vasili,  who  pretended  that  he  wished  to 
know  in.  order  to  decide  a  dispute. 

"  How  can  one  talk  and  think  about  such  trifles  ? " 
was  Pierre's  mental  exclamation.  "  Yes,  from  Olmiitz," 
he  replied,  with  a  sigh. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  19 

After  supper  Pierre  gave  his  arm  to  Ellen,  and  led 
her  to  the  drawing-room  in  the  wake  of  the  others. 
The  guests  began  to  disperse,  and  some  went  away 
without  bidding  Ellen  farewell.  Others,  as  if  unwilling 
to  tear  her  away  from  serious  concerns,  went  up  to  her 
for  a  minute  and  then  hurried  away,  without  allowing 
her  to  accompany  them  to  the  door.  The  diplomat 
preserved  a  mournful  silence  as  he  left  the  drawing- 
room.  The  utter  futility  of  his  diplomatic  career  pre- 
sented itself  in  comparison  with  Pierre's  good  fortune. 
The  old  general  growled  out  a  surly  reply  to  his  wife 
when  she  asked  him  about  the  gout  in  his  foot.  "  Eka  ! 
the  old  fool!"  he  said  to  himself,  ''here's  Elena  Vasi- 
lyevna  ;  and  she  '11  be  just  as  much  of  a  beauty  at  iifty  !  " 

"  It  seems  as  if  I  may  congratulate  you,"  said  Anna 
Pavlovna,  in  a  whisper  to  the  old  princess,  and  gave 
her  a  resounding  kiss.  *'  If  I  had  n't  a  sick  headache, 
I  would  stay  a  little  longer." 

The  princess  made  no  answer ;  she  was  tormented 
by  jealousy  at  her  daughter's  good  fortune. 

While  the  guests  were  taking  their  departure,  Pierre 
was  left  for  some  time  alone  with  Ellen  in  the  little 
sitting-room  where  they  often  sat.  During  the  past 
fortnight  he  had  been  often  alone  v/ith  Ellen,  but  he 
had  never  said  a  word  to  her  about  love.  Now  he  felt 
that  this  was  indispensable,  but  still  he  found  it  impos- 
sible to  make  up  his  mind  to  undertake  this  last  step. 
He  felt  abashed  ;  it  seemed  that  here  in  Ellen's  presence 
he  occupied  a  place  that  belonged  to  some  one  else. 
'  Not  for  thee  is  this  good  fortune,'  some  internal  voice 
seemed  to  whisper.  *  This  happiness  is  for  those  who 
have  not  what  thou  hast.' 

But  it  was  essential  to  say  something,  and  he  tried  to 
talk.  He  asked  her  if  she  had  enjoyed  the  evening. 
She  replied,  with  her  usual  simplicity,  that  this  name- 
day  had  been  one  of  the  pleasant  events  of  her  life. 

One  or  two  of  the  nearest  relatives  still  remained 
They  were  gathered  in  the  great  drawing-room.  Prince 
Vasili  with  leisurely  steps  cam.e  to  Pierre.  Pierre  got 
up  and  remarked  that  it  was  already  late.     Prince  Vasili 


20  WAR   AND    PEACE 

looked  at  him  with  a  gravely  questioning  face,  as  much 
as  to  imply  that  what  he  said  was  too  strange  to  be 
heard.  But  instantly  this  expression  of  sternness  van- 
ished,  and  Prince  Vasi'li  laid  his  hand  on  Pierre's  sleeve, 
made  him  sit  down  again,  and  gave  him  a  flattering 
smile.  "  Well,  Lyolya,"  he  asked,  turning  instantly  to 
his  daughter,  in  that  easy-going  tone  of  habitual  affec- 
tion, peculiar  to  parents  who  have  lived  on  terms  of 
especial  affection  with  their  children  ever  since  their 
childhood,  but  which  in  Prince  Vasili's  case  had  been 
acquired  only  through  having  observed  other  parents. 
And  then  he  turned  again  to  Pierre :  "  Sergye'i  Kiiz- 
mitcJi.froin  all  sides''.. ..\\^  repeated,  nervously  unbut- 
toning the  upper  button  of  his  waistcoat. 

Pierre  smiled,  but  his  smile  made  it  evident  how  well 
he  understood  that  Prince  Vasili  was  not  interested  now 
in  this  anecdote  about  Sergyei  Kuzmitch,  and  Prince 
Vasili  understood  that  Pierre  understood  this.  Prince 
Vasili  suddenly  muttered  some  excuse,  and  left  the 
room.  It  seemed  to  Pierre  that  even  Prince  Vasili  was 
embarrassed.  The  appearance  of  embarrassment  in 
this  old  society  man  deeply  affected  Pierre.  He 
glanced  at  Ellen,  and  she,  it  seemed,  was  also  embar- 
rassed, and  her  glance  said :    "  Well,  it  is  all  your  fault ! " 

"It  is  absolutely  indispensable  for  me  to  take  this 
step,  but  I  cannot,  I  cannot !  "  said  Pierre  to  himself, 
and  once  more  he  began  to  talk  about  irrelevant  things, 
about  ''Sergyei  Kuzmitch,"  asking  what  was  the  point 
of  this  anecdote,  as  he  had  not  caught  it.  Ellen  with  a 
smile  confessed  that  she  also  knew  nothing  about  it. 

When  Prince  Vasili  returned  to  the  drawing-room, 
the  princess  was  engaged  in  talking  in  low  tones  with 
an  elderly  lady  about  Pierre.  "  Of  course,  it  is  a  very 
brilliant  match,  but  happiness,  my  dear,"  said  she,  in 
the  usual  mixture  of  P'rench  and  Russian. 

*'  Marriages  are  made  in  heaven,"  returned  the  old 
lady.  Prince  Vasili,  pretending  not  to  hear  what  she 
said,  w^ent  to  the  farthest  table  and  sat  down  on  the 
sofa.  He  closed  his  eyes  and  appeared  to  be  dozing. 
His  head  sank  forward  and  then  he  woke  with  a  start 


WAR   AND    PEACE  21 

"  Alina,"  said  he  to  his  wife,  ''go  and  see  what  they  are 
doing." 

The  princess  went  to  the  door,  passed  by  it  with  a 
significant  but  indifferent  look,  and  glanced  in.  Pierre 
and  Ellen  were  still  sitting  and  talking. 

"Just  the  same,"  she  said,  in  reply  to  her  husband. 
Prince  Vasili  scowled,  and  screwed  his  mouth  to  one 
side,  and  his  cheeks  began  to  twitch  with  that  unpleas^ 
ant,  coarse  expression  so  characteristic  of  him;  then 
with  a  sudden  impulse  he  sprang  to  his  feet,  threw  his 
head  back,  and  with  decided  steps  strode  past  the  ladies 
into  the  little  sitting-room.  Swiftly,  and  with  a  great 
assumption  of  delight,  he  went  straight  up  to  Pierre. 
His  face  was  so  unusually  triumphant  that  Pierre,  in 
seeing  him,  rose  to  his  feet  in  dismay. 

"Slava  Bohu!  glory  to  God!"  he  cried,  "my  wife 
has  told  me  all."  He  threw  one  arm  round  Pierre,  the 
other  round  his  daughter.  "  My  dear  boy !  Lyolya  ! 
I  am  very,  very  glad;"  his  voice  trembled.  "I  loved 
your  father ....  and  she  will  make  you  a  good  wife  ....  God 
bless  you."  He  embraced  his  daughter,  then  Pierre 
again,  and  kissed  him  with  his  malodorous  mouth.  Tears 
actually  moistened  his  cheeks.  "Princess,  come  here!" 
he  cried. 

The  princess  came  and  wept.  The  elderly  lady  also 
wiped  her  eyes  with  her  handkerchief.  They  kissed 
Pierre,  and  he  kissed  the  lovely  Ellen's  hand  several 
times.     After  a  little  they  v/ere  left  alone  again. 

"All  this  had  to  be  so,  and  could  not  be  otherwise," 
thought  Pierre,  "and  there  is  no  need  to  ask  if  it  be 
good  or  evil.  Good  at  least  in  that  it  is  decided,  and  I 
am  no  longer  tortured  by  suspense."  ♦ 

Pierre  silently  held  the  hand  of  his  betrothed,  and 
looked  at  her  fair  bosom  as  it  rose  and  fell. 

"  Ellen !  "  said  he  aloud,  and  then  paused.  He  was 
aware  that  something  of  this  sort  must  be  said  under 
such  circumstances,  but  he  could  not  for  the  life  of  him 
remember  what  was  the  proper  thing  to  say.  He  looked 
into  her  face,  she  came  nearer  to  him.  Her  face  grew 
a  deep  crimson. 


22  WAR   AND    PEACE 

*' Akh  !  take  them  off.  How  they  ....  "  she  pointed  to 
his  glasses. 

Pierre  took  them  off,  and  his  eyes  had  a  scared  and 
entreating  look  in  addition  to  that  strange  expression 
which  people's  eyes  assume  when  they  remove  their 
glasses  suddenly.  He  was  about  to  bend  over  her  hand, 
and  kiss  it,  but  she  with  a  quick  and  abrupt  motion  of 
her  head  intercepted  the  motion,  and  pressed  her  lips 
to  his.  Her  face  disturbed  Pierre  by  its  changed  and 
unpleasantly  passionate  expression. 

**  Now  it  is  too  late,  it  is  all  decided ;  yes,  and  I  love 
her,"  thought  Pierre. 

''  I  love  you,"  he  said,  at  last  remembering  what 
was  necessary  in  these  circumstances ;  but  these  words 
sounded  so  meager  that  he  was  ashamed  of  himself. 

At  the  end  of  a  fortnight  he  was  married,  the  fortu 
nate  possessor,  as  they  say,  of  a  beautiful  wife  and  oj 
millions,  and  settled  in  the  enormous  Petersburg  man 
sion  of  the  Counts  Bezukhoi,  newly  refitted  for  them. 


CHAPTER   HI 

The  old  Prince  Nikolai  Andreitch  Bolkonsky,  in 
December,  1805,  received  a  letter  from  Prince  Vasi'li, 
announcing  his  coming  with  his  son  on  a  visit. 

*'  I  am  making  a  tour  of  inspection,  and  of  course  the 
hundred  versts'  distance  across  the  country  shall  not  keep 
me  from  coming  to  see  you,  venerated  benefactor,"  he 
wrote,  "  and  my  Anatol  accompanies  me ;  he  is  on  his 
way  to  the  army,  and  I  hope  you  will  permit  him  to 
show  you  the  deep  respect  which  he,  in  emulation  of  his 
father,  has  conceived  for  you." 

'*  Well,  there 's  no  need  of  bringing  Marie  out,  if 
suitors  come  to  us  of  their  own  accord,"  said  the  little 
princess,  indiscreetly,  when  this  was  mentioned  to  her. 
Prince  Nikolai'  Andreitch  frowned  and  made  no  reply. 
Two  weeks  after  the  receipt  of  the  letter,  Prince  Vasili's 


WAR   AND    PEACE  23 

servants  made  their  appearance  in  advance  of  him,  and 
on  the  next  day  he  and  his  son  arrived. 

The  old  Prince  Bolkonsky  had  a  low  opinion  of  Prince 
Vasili's  character,  and  this  had  been  intensified  of  late 
by  the  great  advances  which  he  had  made  in  rank  and 
honors  under  the  Emperors  Paul  and  Alexander.  Now 
especially,  from  the  letter,  and  the  insinuations  made  by 
the  little  princess,  he  saw  what  was  in  the  wind,  and  his 
low  opinion  of  Prince  Vasili  was  transmuted  in  his  heart 
into  a  feeling  of  really  malevolent  contempt.  He  snorted 
whenever  he  mentioned  his  name.  On  the  day  that 
Prince  Vasili  was  expected.  Prince  Nikolai  Andreitch 
was  especially  surly  and  out  of  sorts.  Whether  he  were 
out  of  sorts  because  Prince  Vasih  was  coming,  or  whether 
he  was  dissatisfied  with  Prince  Vasili's  visit  because 
he  was  out  of  sorts,  it  did  not  alter  the  fact  that  he 
was  out  of  sorts,  and  Tikhon  early  in  the  morning  ad- 
vised the  architect  not  to  come  near  the  prince  with 
his  plans. 

**  Listen  !  Hear  him  walking  up  and  down,"  remarked 
Tikhon,  calling  the  architect's  attention  to  the  sounds 
of  the  prince's  tramp.  ''  He  stamps  his  heels,  and  we 
all  know  what  that  means." 

However,  at  the  usual  hour  of  nine  o'clock,  the  prince 
came  out  for  his  morning  walk,  dressed  in  his  velvet 
shubka  with  its  sable  collar,  and  in  a  cap  of  the  same 
fur.  The  night  before  there  had  been  a  snowstorm. 
The  path  along  which  the  prince  walked  to  the  orangery 
had  been  swept;  traces  of  the  broom  were  still  to  be 
seen  on  the  snow,  and  the  shovel  was  driven  into  a 
light  embankment  of  snow,  heaped  high  on  both  sides 
of  the  path.  The  prince  went  the  round  of  the  green- 
houses, the  yard,  and  the  various  buildings,  frowning 
and  silent. 

**  Can  sleighs  come  up  .? "  he  asked  of  his  overseer,  a 
man  who  was  his  image  in  face  and  actions,  and  was 
accompanying  him  with  great  deference  back  to  the 
house. 

**  The  snow  is  deep,  your  illustriousness ;  I  have  already 
given  orders  to  have  the  snow  shoveled  awav  from  the 


24  WAR   AND    PEACE 

preshpekt."  The  prince  bent  his  head,  and  started  to 
go  up  the  steps.  **  Glory  to  thee,  O  Lord,"  was  the 
overseer's  mental  exclamation,  "the  cloud  has  passed." 

"  It  was  hard  to  approach,  your  illustriousness,"  added 
the  superintendent,  ''when  I  heard,  your  illustriousness, 
that  your  illustriousness  was  expecting  a  minister.".... 

The  prince  turned  round  toward  his  overseer,  and 
fastened  his  gloomy  eyes  upon  him. 

''  What  ?  A  minister.  What  minister  ?  Who  com^ 
manded  you  ?  "  he  exclaimed,  in  his  shrill,  harsh  voice. 
"  The  road  is  cleared,  not  for  the  princess,  my  daughter, 
but  for  a  minister,  is  it  ?  We  have  no  ministers  at  my 
house." 

"Your  illustriousness,  I  supposed...." 

"  You  supposed,"  screamed  the  prince,  uttering  the 
words  more  and  more  hastily  and  incoherently.  "You 
supposed....  cutthroats,  blackguards!  I  will  teach  ye  to 
suppose,"  and,  raising  his  cane,  flourished  it  over  Alpat- 
uitch,  and  would  have  struck  him  had  not  the  overseer 
instinctively  dodged  the  blow.  "You  supposed  ....  black- 
guard !  "  screamed  the  prince,  but,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  Alpatuitch,  alarmed  at  his  audacity  in  avoiding 
the  blow,  hastened  up  to  the  prince,  and  humbly  bent 
before  him  his  bald  pate,  or  possibly  for  this  very  reason, 
the  prince  continued  to  scream,  "  Blackguards  !  have  the 
snow  shoveled  back  again,"  but  did  not  raise  the  cane 
a  second  time,  and  hastened' into  his  room. 

The  Princess  Mari'ya  and  Mile.  Bourienne,  knowing 
that  he  was  in  a  bad  humor,  stood  waiting  for  him  to 
come  to  dinner,  Mile.  Bourienne  with  a  beaming  face, 
which  said,  "  Oh  !  I  know  nothing  about  it ;  as  for  me, 
I  am  'always  the  same."  And  the  princess  pale  and 
scared,  with  downcast  eyes.  Hardest  of  all  was  it  for 
the  Princess  Mari'ya  to  know  that  in  these  circumstances 
she  ought  to  imitate  Mile.  Bourienne,  but  she  could  not 
do  so.  She  said  to  herself,  "  If  I  should  pretend  not  to 
pay  any  attention,  he  would  think  that  I  had  no  sympa- 
thy for  him ;  and  if  I  show  him  that  I  am  melancholy 
and  out  of  sorts  myself,  he  will  say  (as  he  always  does), 
that  I  'm  in  the  blues." 


WAR   AND   PEACE  25 

The  prince  looked  at  his  daughter's  scared-  face  and 
snorted. 

"Goo  ....or  fool!"  he  muttered.  **And  the  other 
one  not  here  .'^  Can  they  have  been  tattling  to  her?" 
he  wondered,  when  he  saw  that  the  little  princess  was 
not  in  the  dining-room. 

''  Where  is  the  princess  ?  "  he  asked.  **  Is  she  hiding 
herself  ? " 

"She  is  not  feeling  very  well,"  said  Mile.  Bourienne, 
with  a  radiant  smile,  "  she  won't  come  down.  That  is 
natural  in  her  condition." 

"  Hm  !  hm  !  kh  !  kh  !  "  grumbled  the  prince,  and 
took  his  seat  at  the  table.  His  plate  seemed  to  him  not 
quite  clean ;  he  pointed  to  a  spot,  and  flung  it  away. 
Tikhon  caught  it  and  handed  it  to  the  butler. 

The  little  princess  was  not  ill,  but  she  was  so  invincibly 
afraid  of  the  old  prince  that  when  she  learned  that  he 
was  in  a  bad  humor  she  resolved  not  to  leave  her  room. 

"  I  am  afraid  for  my  baby,"  said  she  to  Mile.  Bouri- 
enne ;  "  God  knows  what  might  happen  if  I  were 
frightened." 

The  little  princess  lived  at  Luisiya  Gorui  the  larger 
part  of  the  time,  with  a  sense  of  fear  and  antipathy  for 
her  father-in-law,  whom  she  did  not  understand  because 
her  terror  so  overmastered  her  that  she  could  not.  The 
prince  reciprocated  this  antipathy  for  his  daughter-in- 
law,  but  it  was  not  so  strong  as  his  contempt  for  her. 
The  princess,  since  her  residence  at  Luisiya  Gorui,  had 
taken  a  special  fancy  to  Mile.  Bourienne,  spent  whole 
days  with  her,  often  begged  her  to  sleep  with  her,  and 
talked  about  the  old  prince  with  her  and  criticised  him. 

"  So  some  visitors  are  coming  to  see  us,  prince,"  said 
Mile.  Bourienne,  as  she  unfolded  her  white  napkin  with 
her  rosy  fingers.  "  His  excellency,  Prince  Kuragin,  I 
understand  .''  "  she  said,  with  a  questioning  inflection. 

"  Hm  —  this  'excellency,'  as  you  call  him,  is  a  puppy. 
I  secured  him  his  appointment,"  said  the  prince,  disdain- 
fully, "  but  why  his  son  is  coming  is  more  than  I  know. 
Possibly  the  Princess  Lizavieta  Karlovna  and  the  Prin- 
cess Mariya  know,  but  I  don't  know  what  he  's  bringing 


26  WAR   AND    PEACE 

his  son  here  for;  I  don't  want  him."  And  he  looked  at 
his  blushing  daughter.  "  So  she  is  n't  very  well  to-day  ? 
From  fear  of  the  '  minister,'  I  suppose,  as  that  block- 
head of  an  Alpatuitch  called  him  to-day." 

"No,  mon  ph'e  !  " 

Though  Mile.  Bourienne  had  been  particularly  unfor- 
tunate in  her  choice  of  a  subject  of  conversation,  she  was 
not  at  all  put  out  of  countenance,  but  rattled  on  about 
the  greenhouses,  and  about  the  beauty  of  some  new 
flower  that  had  just  blossomed,  and  the  prince,  after  his 
soup,  melted  and  became  more  genial. 

After  dinner  he  went  to  see  his  daughter-in-law.  The 
little  princess  was  sitting  by  a  little  table  and  chatting 
with  Masha,  her  maid.  She  turned  pale  at  the  sight  of 
her  father-in-law.  The  little  princess  had  very  much 
altered.  One  would  now  much  sooner  call  her  ugly  than 
pretty.  Her  cheeks  were  sunken,  her  lip  was  raised, 
her  eyes  had  a  drawn  look. 

"Yes,  a  little  headache,"  she  replied  to  the  prince's 
question  how  she  felt. 

"  Do  you  need  anything.?  " 

"No,  thank  you,  mon pkre'' 

"Well,  then,  very  good,  very  good.' 

He  left  the  room  and  went  to  the  office.  Alpatuitch, 
with  drooping  head,  was  waiting  for  him  there. 

"  Is  the  snow  shoveled  back.-^  " 

"It  is,  your  illustriousness;  forgive  me,  for  God's 
sake,  this  one  piece  of  stupidity." 

The  prince  interrupted  him  and  smiled  his  unnatu- 
ral smile.  "Well,  then,  very  good,  very  good."  He 
stretched  out  his  hand  for  Alpatuitch  to  kiss,  and  then 
he  went  to  his  cabinet. 

Prince  Vasi'ii  arrived  in  the  evening.  He  was  met 
on  the  preshpekt  (as  they  called  the  prospekt  or  high- 
road) by  the  coachmen  and  stable  hands,  who  with 
loud  shouts  dragged  his  covered  sledge  and  sleigh  up 
to  the  entrance,  over  snow  which  had  been  purposely 
heaped  on  the  driveway.  Separate  chambers  had  been 
prepared  for  Prince  Vasili  and  Anatol. 

Anatol,  in  his  shirt-sleeves,  and  with  his  arms  akimbo. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  27 

was  sitting  before  a  table  on  one  corner  of  which  he 
stared  absent-mindedly  with  his  large,  handsome  eyes, 
while  a  smile  played  over  his  lips.  He  looked  on  his 
life  as  one  unbroken  round  of  gayety  which  it  was 
fated  should  be  prepared  for  his  amusement.  And 
even  now  he  looked  in  the  same  way  on  this  visit  to 
a  churlish  old  man  and  a  rich  and  monstrously  ugly 
heiress.  According  to  his  theory,  all  this  might  lead 
to  something  very  good  and  amusing.  And  why  should 
he  not  marry  her,  if  she  were  so  very  rich.''  ''That 
never  comes  amiss,"  thought  Anatol. 

He  shaved,  perfumed  himself  carefully  and  cbquet- 
tishly,  and,  wdth  an  expression  of  indifference  which  was 
innate  in  him,  and  holding  his  head  high,  like  a  young 
conqueror,  he  went  to  his  father's  chamber.  Two 
valets  were  engaged  in  getting  Prince  Vasi'li  dressed; 
he  himself  looked  around  him  with  much  animation, 
and  gave  a  nod  to  his  son  as  he  came  in,  as  much  as 
to  say,  ''Good,  that's  the  way  I  want  you  to  look!" 

"  No,  but  tell  me,  batyushka,  without  joking,  is  she 
monstrously  ugly.? — say,"  he  asked,  as  if  continuing 
a  subject  which  had  been  more  than  once  broached 
during  the  course  of  their  journey. 

"That'll  do!....  Nonsense!  The  main  thing  is  to 
try  to  be  respectful  and  prudent  towards  the  old 
prince." 

"If  he's  going  to  say  unpleasant  things  to  me,  I 
shall  go  right  av/ay, "  said  Anatol.  "  I  can't  abide  these 
old  men.     Hey  ?  " 

"Remember,  your  whole  future  depends  on  this." 

Meantime,  in  the  maidservant's  room,  not  only  was 
it  known  that  the  minister  and  his  son  had  arrived,  but 
every  detail  of  their  personal  appearance  had  been  cir- 
cumstantially discussed.  But  the  Princess  Mariya  sat 
alone  in  her  room,  and  vainly  struggled  to  conquer  her 
inward  agitation. 

"Why  did  they  write  me?  Why  has  Liza  spoken  to 
me  about  this.?  Why,  of  course  this  cannot  be!"  she 
said  to  herself,  looking  into  her  mirror.  "  How  can  I 
go    down    to    the   drawing-room.?     Even  if  he   pleased 


28  WAR    AND    PEACE 

me,  I  could  not  now  be  sure  of  myself  in  his  pres- 
ence.'' 

The  mere  thought  of  her  father's  eyes  filled  her  with 
horror.  The  little  princess  and  Mile.  Bourienne  had, 
by  this  time,  received  all  necessary  information  from 
the  maid  Masha,  who  told  them  what  a  handsome 
young  man,  with  rosy  cheeks  and  dark  eyebrows,  the 
minister's  son  was;  and  how,  when  his  papenka  had 
been  scarcely  able  to  drag  his  feet  up  the  stairs,  he  had 
flown  up  like  an  eagle,  three  steps  at  a  time.  After 
hearing  this  news,  the  little  princess  and  Mile.  Bouri- 
enne hastened  to  the  Princess  Mariya's  room,  filling 
the  corridor  with  the  lively  sound  of  their  voices  as 
they  went. 

"They've  come,  Marie;  did  you  knowit.^"  said  the 
little  princess,  waddling  along,  and  dropping  heavily 
into  an  arm-chair. 

She  was  no  longer  in  the  dressing-sack  which  she 
had  worn  in  the  morning,  but  had  put  on  one  of  her 
best  gowns.  Her  hair  was  carefully  brushed,  and  her 
face  was  full  of  animation,  which,  however,  did  not 
make  one  forget  her  sunken  and  livid  features.  In 
the  finery  in  which  she  was  accustomed  to  appear  in 
Petersburg  society,  it  was  still  more  noticeable  that 
her  beauty  had  sadly  faded.  Mile.  Bourienne  had 
also  taken  pains  to  make  some  improvement  in  her 
dress,  and  this  made  her  pretty,  fresh  face  still  more 
attractive. 

"What.'*  and  you  intend  to  appear  as  you  are,  dear 
princess?"  she  exclaimed.  "They  will  be  here  in  a 
moment  to  bring  word  that  the  gentlemen  are  in  the 
drawing-room;  we  must  go  down;  so  won't  you  make 
just  a  little  change  in  your  toilet.'* " 

The  little  princess  got  up  out  of  the  arm-chair,  rang 
for  the  maid,  and  hastily  and  merrily  began  to  devise 
some  adornment  for  her  sister-in-law,  and  get  it  material- 
ized. The  Princess  Mari'ya  felt  humiliated  in  her  own 
sense  of  dignity  by  the  excitement  which  the  coming  of 
her  suitor  stirred  in  her,  and  still  more  humiliated  be- 
cause both  of  her  friends  did  not  seem  to  imagine  that 


WAR   AND    PEACE  29 

it  was  possible  to  be  otherwise.  To  tell  them  how 
ashamed  she  was  for  herself  and  for  them  would  have 
been  to  betray  her  agitation  ;  moreover,  to  have  refused 
to  put  on  the  adornment  which  they  were  getting  ready 
for  her  would  have  entailed  endless  jests  and  reproaches. 
She  grew  red,  her  lovely  eyes  lost  their  brilliancy,  her 
face  became  covered  with  patches  ;  and  with  the  unlovely 
expression,  as  of  a  victim,  coming  more  and  more  fre- 
quently in  her  face,  she  surrendered  herself  into  the 
power  of  Mile.  Bourienne  and  Liza.  But  the  ladies 
labored  in  perfectly  good  faith  to  render  her  handsome. 
She  was  so  homely,  that  neither  of  them  could  ever 
dream  of  entering  into  rivalry  with  her ;  therefore,  being 
perfectly  sincere  in  that  nai've  and  firm  conviction  pe- 
culiar to  women,  that  ornaments  can  make  a  face  beau- 
tiful, they  busied  themselves  with  her  adornment. 

*'  No,  it 's  a  fact,  ma  bonne  amie,  that  dress  is  n't  be- 
coming," said  Liza,  looking  critically  at  her  sister-in-law 
from  some  little  distance.  **  Try  that  dark-red  masaka 
that  you  have.  Truly!  you  know  your  whole  fate,  per- 
haps, depends  on  this  matter.  This  one  is  too  light;  it 
won't  do!  no,  oh,  no!  it  won't  do!  " 

It  was  not  that  the  dress  was  unbecoming,  but  the 
princess's  face  and  whole  figure  were  at  fault ;  and  yet 
neither  Mile.  Bourienne  nor  the  little  princess  realized 
this.  It  seemed  to  them  that  if  they  put  a  blue  ribbon 
in  her  hair,  and  combed  it  up,  and  then  added  a  blue 
scarf  to  her  cinnamon-colored  dress,  and  made  some 
other  such  additions,  all  would  be  well.  They  forgot 
that  her  scared  face  and  her  figure  could  not  be  altered, 
and,  therefore,  no  matter  how  much  they  might  vary  the 
frame  and  adornment,  the  face  itself  would  remain  pitiful 
and  unattractive.  At  last,  after  two  or  three  experiments, 
to  which  the  Princess  Mariya  patiently  submitted,  when 
her  hair  had  been  combed  up  high  from  her  forehead  (a 
mode  of  dressing  the  hair  which  absolutely  changed  her 
face,  and  that  for  the  worse),  and  she  was  dressed  in 
the  masaka  dress  with  the  blue  scarf,  the  little  princess 
walked  around  her  twice  in  succession,  adjusted  with  her 
dainty  fingers  some  of  the  folds  in  the  skirt,  pulled  out 


JO  WAR   AND    PEACE 

the  scarf,  looked  at  her  with  her  head  bent  now  on  this 
side,  now  on  that :  — 

"  No,  that  is  impossible,"  said  she,  decidedly,  clasping 
her  hands.  *'  No,  Marie,  decidedly,  this  does  not  do  at 
all.  I  like  you  better  in  your  little,  every-day,  gray  dress. 
Now,  please  do  this  for  me.  Katya,"  she  said  to  the 
maid,  ''bring  the  princess  her  grayish  dress,  and....  see. 
Mile.  Bourienne,  how  I  am  going  to  arrange  it,"  she 
added,  with  a  thrill  of  anticipation  in  her  artistic  pleas- 
ure. But  when  Katya  brought  the  desired  garment,  the 
Princess  Mari'ya  sat  motionless  before  the  mirror,  look- 
ing at  her  face,  and  the  mirror  gave  back  the  reflection 
of  eyes  full  of  tears,  and  a  mouth  trembling  with  the 
premonition  of  a  storm  of  sobbing. 

"  Now,  dear  princess,"  said  Mile.  Bourienne,  ''just  one 
more  little  experiment !  " 

The  little  princess,  taking  the  dress  from  the  maid, 
went  to  Princess  Marie. 

"Well,  now  we  will  try  something  that  is  simple  and 
becoming,"  said  she.  The  three  voices,  hers,  Mile.  Bou- 
rienne's,  and  Katya's,  who  was  laughing,  mingled  into 
one  merry  chatter,  like  the  chirping  of  birds. 

''Noil,  let  me  be,"  said  the  princess,- and  her  voice 
sounded  so  serious  and  sorrowful  that  the  chirping  of 
the  birds  ceased  instantly.  They  looked  at  her  large, 
beautiful  eyes,  full  of  tears  and  of  melancholy,  and  they 
knew  from  their  wide  and  beseeching  expression  that  it 
was  useless,  and  even  cruel,  to  insist. 

"At  least,  change  the  style  of  your  hair,"  said  the 
little  princess.  "I  told  you  so!"  said  she,  reproach- 
fully, to  Mile.  Bourienne.  "  Marie  has  one  of  those 
faces  that  can't  stand  this  way  of  dressing  the  hair.  Not 
at  all,  not  at  all.      Change  it,  please  do." 

"  Let  me  be,  let  me  be  ;  it 's  all  absolutely  the  same  to 
me,"  replied  the  young  princess,  in  a  weary  voice,  and 
scarcely  refraining  from  tears. 

Mile.  Bourienne  and  the  little  princess  were  obliged 
to  acknowledge  to  themselves  that  the  Princess  Mariya, 
as  they  had  dressed  her,  was  very  homely,  more  so  than 
usual;  but  now  it  was  too  late.     She  looked  at  them  with 


WAR   AND    PEACE  31 

that  expression  which  they  had  learned  to  know  so  well, 
—  an  expression  of  deep  thought  and  melancholy.  It 
did  not  inspire  them  with  any  sense  of  awe  of  her  (for 
that  feeling  she  never  could  inspire),  but  they  knew  that 
when  her  face  had  this  expression,  she  was  silent  and 
immovable  in  her  resolutions. 

"  You  will  make  the  change,  won't  you  ?  "  asked  Liza, 
but  when  the  Princess  Mariya  made  no  reply,  Liza  left 
the  room. 

The  Princess  Mariya  was  left  alone.  She  did  not 
comply  with  Liza's  request,  and  not  only  did  she  not 
change  the  style  of  her  hair,  but  did  not  even  look  at 
herself  in  the  glass.  Dropping  her  eyes,  and  letting 
her  hands  fall  nervously,  she  sat  and  pondered.  She 
saw  in  her  imagination  what  her  husband  should  be:  a 
man,  a  strong,  commanding,  and  strangely  attractive  be- 
ing, who  should  suddenly  carry  her  off  into  his  own 
world,  so  different  from  hers,  so  full  of  happiness.  She 
imagined  herself  pressing  to  her  bosom  her  own  child, 
just  such  a  baby  as  she  had  seen  the  evening  before  at 
her  old  nurse's  daughter's.  Her  husband  stands  look- 
ing affectionately  at  her  and  at  their  baby  ;  "  But  no, 
this  is  impossible,  I  am  too  homely,"  she  said  to  herself. 

*/  Please  come  to  tea.  The  prince  will  be  down  in  a 
moment,"  said  the  voice  of  the  chambermaid  outside  the 
door.  She  started  up  from  her  day-dream,  and  was  hor- 
ror-struck at  her  ov/n  thoughts.  And  before  she  went 
down-stairs  she  got  up,  went  into  the  oratory,  and  paus- 
ing before  the  blackened  face  of  the  great  *' image  "  of 
the  Saviour,  lighted  by  the  beams  of  the  tapers,  she  stood 
there  for  several  moments  with  folded  hands.  Her  heart 
was  filled  with  painful  forebodings.  Could  it  be  that  for 
her  there  was  the  possibility  of  the  joy  of  love,  of  earthly 
love  for  a  husband  ?  In  her  imaginings  concerning  mar- 
riage, the  Princess  Mariya  dreamed  of  family  happiness 
and  children,  but  her  principal  dream,  predominating 
over  all  others,  though  unknown  to  herself,  was  that  of 
earthly  love.  The  feeling  was  all  the  stronger,  the  more 
she  tried  to  hide  it  from  others,  and  even  from  herself. 

"'My  God,"  she  cried,  "  how  can  I  crush  out  in  my 


32  WAR    AND    PEACE 

heart  these  thoughts  inspired  by  the  devil  ?  How  can  1 
escape  once  and  for  all  from  evil  imaginings,  and  calmly 
fulfil  Thy  will  ?  " 

And  she  had  hardly  offered  this  prayer  ere  God  gave 
an  answer  in  her  own  heart. 

"  Desire  nothing  for  thyself,  seek  not,  disturb  not 
thyself,  be  not  envious.  The  future  and  thy  fate  must 
needs  be  hidden  from  thee ;  but  live  so  as  to  be  ready 
for  anything.  If  it  please  God  to  try  thee  in  the  respon- 
sibilities of  marriage,  be  ready  to  fulfil  His  will." 

With  this  consoling  thought  —  but  still  with  a  secret 
hope  that  her  forbidden,  earthly  dream  might  be  real- 
ized—  the  Princess  Mariya,  with  a  sigh,  crossed  herself, 
and  went  down-stairs,  thinking  not  of  her  dress,  or  of 
her  hair,  or  of  how  she  should  make  entrance,  or  of 
what  she  should  say.  What  did  all  that  signify  in  com- 
parison with  the  preordination  of  God,  without  whose 
will  not  a  hair  can  fall  from  a  man's  head. 


CHAPTER   IV 

When  the  Princess  Mariya  came  down.  Prince  VasiH 
and  his  son  were  already  in  the  drav/ing-room,  talking 
with  the  little  princess  and  Mile.  Bourienne.  When  she 
came  in  with  her  heavy  gait,  treading  on  her  heels,  the 
gentlemen  and  Mile.  Bourienne  stood  up,  and  the  little 
princess  exclaimed,  ''Here  is  Marie!''  The  Princess 
Mariya  saw  them  all,  and  saw  them  distinctly.  She  saw 
Prince  Vasili's  face  becoming  for  an  instant  serious  at 
the  sight  of  her,  instantly  resume  its  smiling  expression, 
and  the  little  princess  watching  curiously  the  impression 
which  her  entrance  would  produce  upon  their  guests. 
She  saw  also  Mile.  Bourienne,  with  her  ribbon  and  her 
pretty  face,  and  her  eyes  more  sparkling  than  usual, 
fixed  on  him;  but  she  could  not  bring  herself  to  see 
him ;  all  she  could  see  was  something  tall,  brilliant,  and 
magnificent  coming  toward  her  as  she  entered  the  room. 

Prince  Vasili  was  the  first  to  greet  her,  and  she  kissed 
the  bald  forehead,  bending  over  her  hand,  and  answered 


WAR   AND    PEACE  3^ 

his  question  by  assuring  him,  "  that,  on  the  contrary, 
she  remembered  him  very  well." 

Then  Anatol  came  to  her.  She  could  not  see  him  as 
yet  at  all.  She  was  only  conscious  of  a  soft  hand  hold- 
ing hers,  whilQ  she  lightly  touched  with  her  lips  a  white 
brow  under  a  thatch  of  beautiful  brown  hair  perfumed 
with  pomade.  When  she  looked  at  him  his  beauty  daz- 
zled her. 

Anatol,  hooking  the  thumb  of  his  right  hand  behind 
one  button  of  his  uniform,  stood  with  his  chest  thrust 
out,  and  his  back  bent  in,  resting  his  weight  on  one  leg, 
and  slightly  inclining  his  head,  and  looked  at  the  prin- 
cess cheerily,  but  v/ithout  speaking.  He  was  evidently 
not  thinking  of  her  at  all.  Anatol  was  not  quick-witted 
or  a  ready  talker,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  had  that 
gift  of  composure  which  is  so  invaluable  in  society,  and 
a  self-confidence  which  nothing  could  disturb.  If  a  man 
lacking  self-confidence  is  silent  at  a  first  introduction, 
and  betrays  a  consciousness  of  the  impropriety  of  such 
a  silence,  and  attempts  to  escape  from  it,  it  makes  a 
bad  matter  worse ;  but  Anatol,  swaying  a  little  on  one 
leg,  had  nothing  to  say,  and  gazed  with  an  amused  look 
at  the  princess's  hair.  It  was  evident  that  such  ease  of 
manner  would  enable  him  to  preserve  silence  any  length 
of  time.  His  look  seemed  to  say:  *If  this  silence  is 
awkward  for  any  one,  then  speak ;  but  as  for  me,  I  have 
no  desire  to  say  anything.' 

Moreover,  Anatol  had  in  his  behavior  toward  women 
that  manner  which  strongly  piques  curiosity,  and  excites 
fear,  and  even  love  in  them,  —  a  sort  of  scornful  con- 
sciousness of  his  oXvn  superiority.  His  look  seemed  to 
say  to  them  :  '  I  know  you,  I  know  what  is  disturbing 
you.  Ah,  how  happy  you  would  be  if ....' possibly  he 
did  not  think  any  such  thing  when  he  met  women  (and 
there  is  considerable  ground  for  such  a  supposition, 
because  he  thought  very  little),  but  this  was  what  was 
expressed  by  his  look  and  manner.  The  princess  felt 
it,  and  apparently  wishing  to  show  him  that  she  did  not 
venture  to  do  such  a  thing  as  engage  his  attention,  she 
turned  to  his  father. 


34  WAR   AND    PEACE 

The  conversation  became  general,  and  rather  lively, 
thinks  to  the  merry  voice  of  the  little  princess,  who 
kept  lifting  up  her  downy  lip  and  showing  her  white 
teeth. 

She  met  Prince  Vasili  with  that  peculiarly  vivacious 
manner  which  is  often  employed  by  people  of  merrily 
loquacious  mood,  and  consists  in  the  interchange 
between  you  and  your  acquaintance  of  the  regulai 
stock  witticisms  of  the  day,  and  of  pleasant  and  amus- 
ing  reminiscences  which  it  is  taken  for  granted  are  not 
understood  by  all  people,  comical  reminiscences  of 
things  that  they  have  never  experienced  together,  and 
so  it  was  with  the  little  princess  and  Prince  Vasili. 

Prince  Vasili  wilhngly  adapted  himself  to  this  spirit; 
the  little  princess  managed  to  include  Anatol  as  well, 
though  she  scarcely  knew  him,  and  soon  found  herself 
sharing  with  him  in  recollections  of  ridiculous  occur- 
rences, events  which  in  some  cases  had  never  happened 
at  all.  Mile.  Bourienne  also  took  part  in  these  general 
recollections,  and  even  the  Princess  Mariya  had  a  sort  of 
satisfaction  in  feeling  herself  drawn  into  this  light  gossip. 

"  Here  at  least  we  shall  have  the  benefit  of  your  com 
pany  all  to  ourselves,  dear  prince,"  said  the  little  prin- 
cess —  in  French  of  course  —  to  Prince  Vasili.  "  It 
won't  be  as  it  used  to  be  at  our  receptions  at  Annette's, 
where  you  always  made  your  escape,  you  know  —  ceUe 
chh-e  Annette !  " 

*'  Ah,  but  of  course  you  won't  oblige  me  to  talk  about 
politics  as  Annette  does  }  " 

"  But  our  tea-table  }  " 

''Oh,  yes!" 

"Why  were  you  never  at  Annette's } "  asked  the  little 
princess,  of  Anatol.  *'  Oh !  but  I  know,  I  know,"  said 
she,  with  a  sly  expression.  ''Your  brother  Ippolit  told 
me  all  about  your  doings  — oh  !  "  she  exclaimed,  threat- 
ening him  with  her  finger.  "  And  then  again  in  Paris, 
I  know  about  your  pranks  !  " 

"  And  has  n't  Ippolit  told  you }  "  asked  Prince  Vasili, 
addressing  his  son  and  seizing  Princess  Liza  by  the  arm, 
as  if  there  were  danger  of  her  running  away,  and  he 


WAR    AND    PEACE  35 

wished  to  prevent  it  while  yet  there  was  time,  "  has  n't 
he  ever  told  you  how  he  himself  was  dead  in  love  with 
our  dear  princess  here,  and  how  she  would  n't  have  any- 
thing to  say  to  him  ?  " 

**  Oh,  she  is  a  pearl  among  women,  princess ! "  ^  said 
he,  addressing  the  Princess  Mariya. 

Mile.  Bourienne,  on  her  part,  when  she  heard  the  word 
**  Paris,"  did  not  lose  the  opportunity  of  also  adding  her 
recollections  to  the  general  conversation.  She  allowed 
herself  to  inquire  of  Anatol  if  he  had  been  long  in  Paris, 
and  how  that  city  pleased  him. 

Anatol  took  evident  pleasure  in  answering  the  French- 
woman's questions,  and  with  a  smile  talked  with  her 
about  her  native  land.  Seeing  how  pretty  la  Bourienne 
was,  Anatol  decided  that,  after  all,  it  would  not  be  so 
very  stupid  here  at  Luisiya  Gorui,  "  Not  at  all  bad 
looking,"  he  said  to  himself,  as  he  looked  at  her;  "very 
far  from  it.  I  hope  that  when  she  marries  me  she  will 
take  this  demoiselle  de  coinpagnie  with  her,  she  's  a  pretty 
little  girl !  " 

The  old  prince  took  his  time  about  dressing,  and  he 
frowned,  as  he  thought  what  he  should  do.  The  coming 
of  these  guests  annoyed  him. 

"  What  are  Prince  Vasi'li  and  his  son  to  me  }  Prince 
Vasili  is  an  empty  swaggerer,  and  his  son  must  be  a 
fine  specimen,"  he  grumbled  to  himself.  He  was 
annoyed  because  the  coming  of  these  guests  aroused 
in  the  depths  of  his  soul  an  unsettled  and  constantly 
avoided  question,  a  question  in  regard  to  which  the  old 
prince  was  always  deceiving  himself.  The  question  was 
this :  whether  he  could  make  up  his  mind  to  part  with 
his  daughter  and  let  her  marry.  The  old  prince  could 
never  bring  himself  to  ask  the  question  directly,  know- 
ing beforehand  that  if  he  should  answer  it  honestly,  his 
honesty  would  come  into  open  antagonism,  not  merely 
with  his  feelings,  but  with  the  whole  order  and  system 
of  his  life.  For  Prince  Nikolai"  Andreyevitch,  life  with- 
out his  daughter,  little  as  he  outwardly  seemed  to  ap 
preciate  her,  was  out  of  the  question. 

1  Oh,  c  ^est  laperle  des  femmes,  princesse. 


36  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"And  why  should  she  get  married?"  he  asked  him- 
self. '*  Probably  to  be  unhappy.  Here  is  Liza  —  cer- 
tainly it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  better  husband  than 
Andrei'  —  and  yet  is  she  contented  with  her  lot  ?  And 
who  would  take  her  from  mere  love  ?  She  is  homely, 
awkward  !  They  would  marry  her  for  her  connections, 
for  her  wealth  !  And  can't  girls  live  unmarried  ?  They  'd 
be  much  happier." 

Thus  thought  Prince  Nikolai'  Andreyevitch,  as  he 
performed  his  toilet  in  his  cabinet,  and  still  at  the  same 
time  the  ever-procrastinated  question  now  demanded  an 
immediate  solution.  Prince  Vasi'ii  had  brought  his  son, 
evidently  with  the  intention  of  making  a  proposal,  and 
therefore  this  very  day  or  the  next  he  should  have  to 
give  a  direct  answer.  His  name,  his  position  in  the 
world,  were  excellent. 

''Well,  I  've  no  objection,"  said  the  prince  to  himself. 
"  But  let  him  prove  himself  worthy  of  her.  Well,  we 
shall  see.  Yes,  we  shall  see!"  he  exclaimed  aloud, 
''yes,  we  shall  see  hov/  it  is,"  and  with  his  usual 
firm  tread  he  went  into  the  drawing-room,  took  in  all 
present  with  a  sweeping  glance,  noticed  even  the  change 
that  the  little  princess  had  made  in  her  dress,  and  la 
Bourienne's  ribbon,  and  the  Princess  Mariya's  ugly 
head-dress,  and  her  isolation  in  the  general  conversation, 
and  Bourienne  and  Anatol's  exchange  of  smiles. 

"  She  is  dressed  up  like  a  fool,"  he  said  to  himself, 
giving  his  daughter  a  wrathful  glance.  "  She  has  no 
sense  of  shame,  and  he  —  he  does  not  care  anything 
about  making  her  acquaintance." 

He  went  straight  to  Prince  Vasili :  "  Well,  how  are  you, 
how  are  you  ?     Glad  to  see  you !  " 

"Friendship  laughs  at  distance,"^  exclaimed  Prince 
Vasili,  quoting  the  familiar  proverb  with  ready  wit,  and 
with  his  usual  self-confident  familiarity.  "  Here  is  my 
second  son  ;    grant  him  your  friendship,  I  beg  of  you." 

Prince  Nikolai"  Andreyevitch  surveyed  Anatol. 

"Fine  young  fellow!  Fine  young  fellow,"  said  he. 
"  Now  come,  give  me  a  kiss,"  and  he  offered  him  his 

^  Literally :  For  a  dear  old  friend  even  seven  versts  is  not  a  roundabout. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  37 

cheek.  Anatol  kissed  the  old  man  and  looked  at  him 
curiously,  but  with  perfect  composure,  expecting  soon 
to  hear  one  of  those  droll  remarks  of  which  his  father 
had  told  him.  Prince  Nikolai  Andreyevitch  sat  down 
in  his  usual  place,  in  one  corner  of  the  divan,  drew  up 
an  arm-chair  for  Prince  Vasi'li,  pointed  him  to  it,  and 
began  to  ask  him  about  the  news  in  the  political  world. 
He  listened  with  apparent  attention  to  what  Prince 
Vasi'li  had  to  say,  but  he  kept  glancing  at  the  Princess 
Mariya. 

*'So  that's  what  they  write  from  Potsdam,  is  it.?" 
said  he,  repeating  Prince  Vasili's  last  words;  and  then 
suddenly  getting  up,  he  went  over  to  his  daughter. 
''So  this  is  how  you  dress  before  company,  hey.?" 
exclaimed  he.  ''Excellent,  admirable!  You  appear 
before  folks  with  your  hair  done  up  in  this  new-fangled 
way,  and  I  tell  you,  in  the  presence  of  these  same  folks, 
never  again,  without  my  leave,  to  rig  yourself  up  in  such 
a  fashion  !" 

"  It  v/as  my  fault,  mon  pere,''  said  the  little  princess, 
blushing,  and  coming  to  her  sister-in-law's  rescue. 

"You  may  do  as  you  please,"  said  Prince  Nikolaif 
Andreyevitch,  making  a  low  bow  before  his  son's  wife. 
"  But  she  has  no  right  to  disfigure  herself ;  she  's  ugly 
enough  without  that."  And  he  once  more  resumed  his 
place,  paying  no  further  heed  to  his  daughter,  who  was 
ready  to  weep. 

"  On  the  contrary,  that  way  of  dressing  her^  hair  is 
very  becoming  to  the  princess,"  said  Prince  Vasili.^ 

"Well,  batyushka  — my  young  prince  —  what  is  his 
name.?"  said  Prince  Nikolai  Andreyevitch,  turning  to 
Anatol,  "  come  here.  Let  us  have  a  little  talk,  and  get 
acquainted." 

"  Now  the  sport  begins,"  thought  Anatol,  and  with  a 
smile  he  took  a  seat  by  the  oM  prince. 

"  Well,  now,  my  dear,  you  have  been  educated  abroad, 
somewhat  different  from  your  father  and  me,  who  had 
the  parish  dyachok^  teach  us  our  a  b  c^.  Tell  me,  my 
dear,    you    serve   in   the    Horse    Guards,    don't   you?'* 

1  Precentor  or  sexton. 


38  WAR   AND    PEACE 

asked  the  old   prince,   scrutinizing   Anatol  closely  and 
keenly. 

"  No,  I  have  been  transferred  to  the  Line,"  replied 
Anatol,  scarcely  able  to  keep  from  laughing. 

**Ah,  excellent  thing!  So  that  you  can  serve  the 
Tsar  and  your  country.  It 's  war-time.  Such  fine  young 
men  as  you  ought  to  be  in  the  service.  At  the  front,  I 
suppose  ? " 

''No,  prince;  our  regiment  has  gone,  but  I  was  de- 
tached. What  was  I  detached  for,  papa.?"  asked 
Anatol,  turning  to  his  father  with  a  laugh. 

''  Famous  way  of  serving,  I  must  confess.  '  What 
am  I  detached  for.?'  ha!  ha!  ha!"  roared  Prince 
Nikolai'  Andreyevitch,  and  Anatol  joined  in  still  more 
vociferously.  Suddenly  Prince  Nikolai  Andreyevitch 
began  to  scowl.     ''  Well,  get  you  gone,"  said  he  to  Anatol. 

Anatol  with  a  smile  went  and  rejoined  the  ladies. 

"  And  so  you  have  had  him  educated  abroad,  hey, 
Prince  Vasili.? "  asked  the  old  prince,  of  Kuragin. 

"  I  did  the  best  I  could  for  him,  and  I  must  say  that 
the  schools  there  are  far  better  than  ours." 

''  Well,  everything  is  changed,  all  new-fangled  notions. 
He  's  a  fine  young  man,  a  fine  lad.  Now  let 's  go  into  my 
room."  He  took  Prince  Vasili  by  the  arm,  and  carried 
him  off  to  his  cabinet. 

Prince  VasiH,  finding  himself  alone  with  the  old 
prince,  immediately  began  to  unfold  to  him  his  wishes 
and  hopes. 

''  What  kind  of  an  idea  have  you  ? "  exclaimed  the  old 
prince,  savagely,  "  that  I  keep  her  tied,  and  cannot  part 
with  her  ?  What  notions  people  have  !  "  he  exclaimed 
angrily.  ''To-morrow,  as  far  as  I'm  concerned,  —  I 
merely  tell  you  that  I  want  to  know  my  daughter's 
husband  better.  You  know  my  principles :  a//  above 
board.  To-morrow  I  will  ask  her  in  your  presence  if 
she  will  have  him  ;  if  she  will,  then  let  him  stay.  Let 
him  stay,  I  will  study  him."  The  prince  snorted,  "Or 
let  him  go,  it 's  all  the  same  to  me,"  he  cried,  in  the  same 
piercing  tone  in  which  he  had  uttered  his  farewell  when 
his  son  took  his  departure. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  39 

"I  will  tell  you  frankly,"  said  Prince  Vasili,  in  the 
tone  of  a  cunning  man  who  is  convinced  of  the  useless- 
ness  of  trying  to  be  shrewd  toward  such  a  sharp-eyed 
opponent.  **  You  see,  your  eyes  read  through  men. 
Anatol  is  no  genius,  but  he  is  an  honorable,  kind-hearted 
boy,  and  an  excellent  son." 

'*Very  good,  we  shall  see." 

As  usually  happens  in  the  case  of  women  who  have 
been  long  deprived  of  the  society  of  men,  all  three  of 
the  women  at  Prince  Andreyevitch's,  now  that  they 
had  Anatol  in  their  midst,  felt  that  hitherto  life  had  not 
been  life  for  them.  The  powers  of  feeling,  thinking, 
loving,  were  instantly  multiplied  tenfold  in  each  one  of 
them,  so  that  their  existence,  which  had  been  till  now, 
as  it  were,  spent  in  darkness,  was  suddenly  filled  by  a 
new  light,  full  of  rich  significance. 

The  Princess  Mariya  no  longer  gave  a  thought  to  her 
looks,  or  the  dressing  of  her  hair.  Her  whole  attention 
was  absorbed  by  the  handsome  open  face  of  the  man 
who  perhaps  would  be  her  husband.  He  seemed  to  her 
good,  brave,  resolute,  manly,  and  noble.  She  was  quite 
convinced  of  this.  A  thousand  dreams  of  the  family 
life  which  she  should  enjoy  in  the  future  persisted  in 
rising  in  her  mind.  She  tried  to  banish  them,  and  keep 
them  out  of  her  imagination. 

"  But  was  I  too  cool  toward  him  ?  "  queried  the  Prin- 
cess Mariya.  '*  I  try  to  be  reserved,  because  I  feel  in 
the  depths  of  my  soul  that  he  is  already  too  near  to  me ; 
but,  of  course,  he  cannot  know  all  that  I  think  about 
him,  and  he  may  imagine  that  I  do  not  like  him." 

And  the  Princess  Mariya  strove,  and  yet  was  unable 
to  be  amiable  to  her  new  guest. 

"  Poor  girl !  she  is  devilishly  ugly  !  "  Such  was  Ana- 
tol's  uncomplimentary  thought  of  her. 

Mile.  Bourienne,  whom  Anatol's  arrival  had  brought 
into  a  high  state  of  excitement,  allowed  herself  to  have 
quite  different  thoughts.  Of  course,  being  a  pretty 
young  girl,  without  any  stated  position  in  society,  with, 
out  relatives  and  friends,  and  far  from  her  native  land, 

M 


4.0  WAR   AND    PEACE 

she  had  no  intention  of  devoting  her  whole  life  to  the 
service  of  Prince  Nikolai  Andreyevitch,  reading  books 
to  him,  and  playing  the  part  of  companion  to  the  Prin- 
cess Mariya.  Mile.  Bourienne  had  been  long  waiting 
for  the  Russian  prince  who  should  immediately  have 
wit  enough  to  appreciate  her  superiority  to  these  homely, 
unbecomingly  dressed,  and  awkward  Russian  princesses, 
should  fall  in  love  with  her,  and  elope  with  her ;  now, 
at  last,  the  Russian  prince  had  come. 

Mile.  Bourienne  knew  a  story  which  her  aunt  had 
once  told  her,  and  which-,  in  imagination,  she  liked  to 
repeat  to  the  end,  with  herself  in  the  heroine's  place. 
The  story  was  about  a  young  girl  who  had  been  seduced, 
and  whose  poor  mother,  finding  where  she  w^as,  came 
and  covered  her  with  reproaches  because  she  had  gone 
to  live  with  a  man  to  whom  she  was  not  married.  Mile. 
Bourienne  was  often  melted  to  tears  by  imagining  her- 
self telling  Jiim,  her  seducer,  this  story.  And  now  this 
he,  this  genuine  Russian  prince,  had  made  his  appear- 
ance. He  would  elope  with  her,  then  sa  pa2ivre  mere 
would  appear,  and  he  would  marry  her. 

Thus  in  Mile.  Bourienne's  fertile  brain  the  whole 
romance  evolved  itself,  from  the  moment  that  she  began 
to  talk  with  him  about  Paris.  Not  that  Mile.  Bourienne 
conceived  of  all  the  details  —  what  she  was  going  to  do 
did  not  once  occur  to  her  —  but  still  all  the  materials 
were  long  ago  ready  in  her,  and  now  they  merely  grouped 
themselves  around  Anatol,  whom  she  was  anxious  and 
determined  to  please  as  much  as  possible. 

The  little  princess  (forgetting  her  situation  instinc- 
tively), and  like  an  old  war-horse  at  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet,  made  ready  to  flirt  at  headlong  speed,  without 
meaning  anything  by  it,  but  with  her  usual  naive  and 
light-hearted  spirit  of  fun. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Anatol  in  the  society  of 
women  generally  affected  the  position  of  a  man  who 
considers  it  a  bore  to  have  them  running  after  him,  still 
he  felt  a  consciousness  of  gratified  vanity  to  see  his 
power  over  these  three  women.  Moreover,  he  began 
to  feel   for  the  pretty  and   enticing   Bourienne  a  real 


WAR   AND    PEACE  41 

animal  passion,  such  as  sometimes  overcame  him  with 
extraordinary  rapidity,  and  impelled  him  to  commit  the 
coarsest  and  m'ost  audacious  actions. 

After  tea,  they  all  went  into  the  divan-room,  and  the 
Princess  Mari'ya  was  invited  to  play  on  the  clavichord. 
Anatol  leaned  on  his  elbows,  in  front  of  her,  near  Mile. 
Bourienne,  and,  with  eyes  full  of  mirth  and  gayety, 
looked  at  Mariya,  who,  with  a  painful  and  at  the  same 
time  joyous  emotion,  felt  his  gaze  resting  on  her.  Her 
favorite  sonata  bore  her  away  into  a  most  genuinely 
poetic  world,  and  the  consciousness  of  that  glance 
endowed  this  world  with  even  more  poetry.  In  reality, 
however,  Anatol,  though  he  looked  in  her  direction,  was 
not  thinking  of  her,  but  was  occupied  with  the  motion 
of  Mile.  Bourienne's  foot,  which  he  was  at  this  moment 
pressing  with  his  under  the  piano.  Mile.  Bourienne 
was  also  looking  at  the  princess,  but  her  beautiful  eyes 
had  an  expression  of  frightened  happiness  and  hope, 
which  the  Princess  Mariya  had  never  seen  in  them 
before. 

*'  How  fond  she  is  of  me,"  thought  the  Princess 
Mariya.  "  How  happy  I  am  now,  and  how  happy  I 
might  be  with  such  a  friend  and  such  a  husband !  Hus- 
band !  Can  it  be  possible  ? "  she  asked  herself,  not 
daring  to  look  at  him,  but,  nevertheless,  feeling  his  gaze 
fixed  on  her  face. 

In  the  evening,  when  after  supper  they  were  about  to 
separate  for  the  night  and  Anatol  kissed  the  young  prin- 
cess's hand,  she  herself  knew  not  how  she  dared  to  do 
such  a  thing,  but  she  looked  straight  into  his  handsome 
face  as  it  approached  her  short-sighted  eyes. 

Turning  from  the  princess,  he  went  and  kissed  Mile. 
Bourienne's  hand.  This  was  contrary  to  etiquette,  but 
he  did  everything  with  such  confidence  and  simplicity ! 
Mile.  Bourienne  flushed  and  glanced  in  dismay  at  the 
princess. 

''  How  considerate  of  him,"  thought  the  princess. 
"'  Can  it  be  that  Amelie  "  —  so  she  called  Mile.  Bourienne 
—  "thinks  that  I  should  be  jealous  of  her,  and  do  not 
appreciate  her  affection  and  devotion  to  me  ? " 


1^2  WAR   AND    PEACE 

She  went  s  raight  over  to  Mile.  Bourienne,  and  gave 
her  an  affectionate  kiss.  Anatol  was  about  to  kiss  the 
little  princess's  hand  also. 

*■'  Non!  71011 !  11071 !  when  your  father  writes  me  that 
you  are  behaving  beautifully,  then  I  will  let  you  kiss 
my  hand.     Not  before." 

And,  shaking  her  finger  at  him,  she  left  the  room, 
with  a  smile. 


CHAPTER   V 

All  had  gone  to  their  rooms,  but,  with  the  exception 
of  Anatol,  who  went  to  sleep  as  soon  as  he  got  into  bed, 
it  was  long  before  any  one  could  close  an  eye  that  night. 

"  Is  he  really  to  be  my  husband,  this  handsome 
stranger,  who  seems  so  good ;  ah,  yes,  above  all,  so 
good!"  thought  the  Princess  Mariya,  and  a  feeling  of 
fear,  such  as  she  had  scarcely  ever  experienced  before, 
came  upon  her.  She  was  afraid  to  look  round;  it 
seemed  to  her  as  if  some  one  wxre  standing  there 
behind  the  screen  in  the  dark  corner.  And  this  some 
one  was  he  —  the  devil  —  and  Jie  was  this  man  with  the 
white  forehead,  the  black  eyebrows,  and  the  rosy  lips. 

She  called  her  maid,  and  begged  her  to  sleep  in  her 
room. 

Mile.  Bourienne,  that  same  evening,  walked  for  a 
long  time  up  and  down  the  winter  garden,  vainly 
expecting  some  one,  now  smiling  at  her  own  thought, 
now  stirred  to  tears  by  imagining  the  words  which  sa 
paiivi^e  me7'e  would  say  in  reproaching  her  after  her 
fall. 

The  little  princess  scolded  her  maid  because  her 
bed  was  not  comfortable.  It  was  impossible  for  her  to 
lie  on  her  side,  or  on  her  face.  Any  position  was 
awkward  and  uncomfortable.  She  felt  more  than  ever 
tried  to-day,  especially  because  Anatol's  presence 
brought  back  so  vividly  the  days  before  she  was  married, 
when  she  was  light-hearted  and  merry.  She  reclined 
in  her  easy-chair,  in  her  dressing-jacket  and  nightcap. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  43 

Katya,  half  asleep,  and  with  her  hair  hanging  down  in 
a  braid,  was  turning  for  the  third  time  and  shaking  up 
the  heavy  mattress,  muttering  to  herself. 

"  I  told  you  that  it  was  all  humps  and  hollows," 
insisted  the  little  princess,  "  I  should  like  to  go  to  sleep 
myself;  I'm  sure  it  isn't  my  fault,"  and  her  voice 
trembled  as  if  she  were  a  child  getting  ready  to  cry. 

The  old  prince,  also,  could  not  sleep.  Tikhon,  as  he 
napped,  heard  him  stamping  wrathfully  up  and  down, 
and  snorting.  It  seemed  to  the  old  prince  that  he  had 
been  insulted  through  his  daughter.  The  insult  was 
painful,  because  it  was  directed  not  to  himself,  but  to 
another,  to  his  daughter,  whom  he  loved  better  than 
himself.  He  kept  telling  himself  that  he  would  calmly 
think  the  whole  matter  over,  and  decide  how  in  justice 
to  himself  he  must  act ;  but,  instead  of  so  doing,  he  grew 
more  and  more  vexed  with  himself. 

"  Let  the  first  young  man  come  along,  and  she  forgets 
father  and  all!  and  she  runs  up-stairs,  combs  up  her  hair 
and  prinks,  and  is  no  longer  like  herself.  Glad  to  throw 
her  father  over.  And  she  knew  that  I  noticed  it.  Fr ! 
—  f r  !  —  f r  !  and  then,  have  n't  I  eyes  to  see  that  that 
simpleton  has  no  eyes  for  any  one  except  Biirtenka  (I 
must  get  rid  of  her!).  And  how  is  it  she  has  n't  enough 
pride  to  see  it  herself  ?  If  not  for  her  own  sake,  she 
might  at  least  show  some  for  mine.  I  must  show  her 
that  this  booby  doesn't  think  of  her  at  all,  but  stares 
only  at  Bourienne.  She  has  no  pride,  but  I  '11  prove 
this  for  her." 

The  old  prince  knew  that  if  he  told  his  daughter  that 
she  was  laboring  under  a  delusion,  that  Anatol  was  bent 
on  flirting  with  Bourienne,  he  would  in  this  way  touch 
his  daughter's  pride,  and  his  game  would  be  pla)^ed;  for 
he  was  anxious  not  to  part  with  his  daughter.  This  con- 
sideration served  to  quiet  him.  He  summoned  Tikhon, 
and  began  to  undress. 

"  The  devil  take  'em  !  "  he  said  to  himself,  as  Tikhon 
slipped  the  night-shirt  over  his  master's  thin  old  body, 
the  chest  overgrown  with  gray  hairs. 

''I  did  not  invite  'em.     They  have  come  to  upset  my 


44  WAR    AND    PEACE 

whole  life.  And  my  life  will  soon  be  come  to  an  end 
To  the  devil  with  'em  !  "  he  muttered,  while  his  head 
was  still  hidden  by  the  shirt.  Tikhon  knew  the  prince's 
habit  of  sometimes  thinking  aloud,  and  therefore  he  met 
with  unflinching  eyes  the  prince's  wrathfully  scrutinizing 
gaze,  as  his  head  came  out  from  the  night-shirt. 

"  Have  they  gone  to  bed  ? "  asked  the  prince. 

Tikhon,  after  the  manner  of  all  well-trained  valets, 
knew  by  intuition  what  his  barin  was  thinking  about. 
He  judged  that  the  question  referred  to  Prince  Vasili 
and  his  son. 

"They  have  deigned  to  go  to  bed,  and  their  lights  are 
out,  your  illustriousness." 

"  No  reason  why  they  should  n't,"  briskly  exclaimed 
the  prince,  and,  thrusting  his  feet  into  his  slippers  and 
his  arms  into  his  dressing-gown,  he  went  to  the  sofa 
where  he  usually  slept. 

Although  but  few  words  had  been  exchanged  by 
Anatol  and  Mile.  Bourienne,  they  thoroughly  under- 
stood each  other  as  to  the  first  chapters  of  the  romance, 
up  to  the  appearance  of  the  poor  mother ;  they  under- 
stood that  they  had  much  to  say  to  each  other  in  secret, 
and  therefore  early  in  the  morning  they  both  sought  an 
opportunity  for  a  private  interview.  While  the  young 
princess  was  going  at  the  usual  hour  to  meet  her  father, 
Mile.  Bourienne  and  Anatol  met  in  the  winter  garden. 

The  Princess  Mariya  on  this  particular  day  went  with 
unusual  trepidation  to  the  door  of  her  father's  cabinet. 
It  seemed  to  her  that  every  one  knew  that  this  day  her 
fate  was  to  be  decided,  but  also  knew  what  she  herself 
felt  about  it.  She  read  this  expression  on  Tikhon's  face, 
and  on  the  face  of  Prince  Vasili' s  valet,  as  he  met  her  in 
the  corridor  on  his  way  with  hot  water  for  the  prince, 
and  made  her  a  low  bow. 

The  old  prince  this  morning  was  thoroughly  affection- 
ate  and  kind  in  his  behavior  to  his  daughter.  The  Prin- 
cess Mariya  well  knew  this  expression  of  kindness  It 
was  the  expression  his  face  generally  wore  when  his 
nervous  hands  doubled  up  with  vexation  because  she 
did  not  understand  her  arithmetical  examples,  and  he 


WAR    AND    PEACE  45 

would  spring  to  his  feet,  walk  away  from  her,  and  then 
repeat  the  same  words  in  a  low,  gentle  voice. 

He  immediately  addressed  himself  to  the  business  in 
hand,  and  began  to  explain  it  to  her,  all  the  time  using 
the  formal  via,  you. 

"I  have  received  an  offer  for  your  hand  in  marriage," 
said  he,  with  an  unnatural  smile.  ''  I  suppose  you  did 
not  imagine,"  he  went  on  to  say,  '*  that  he  came  here 
and  brought  his  pupil  "  —  for  some  inexplicable  reason, 
Prince  Nikolai"  Andreyevitch  called  Anatol  vospitafinik, 
pupil  —  "  for  the  sake  of  *  my  handsome  eyes.'  Last 
evening  he  proposed  for  your  hand.  And,  as  you  know 
my  principles,  I  refer  it  to  you." 

"  How  am  I  to  understand  you,  mon  pereV  she.  ex- 
claimed, turning  pale  and  then  blushing. 

"  How  understand  me !  "  cried  her  father,  wrathfully, 
**  Prince  Vasi'li  is  satisfied  with  you  for  a  daughter-in-law, 
and  has  proposed  for  your  hand  in  behalf  of  his  pupil. 
That 's  what  it  means.  '  How  understand  it ! '  That 
I  ask  you." 

"  I  do  not  know  so  well  as  you,  111071  pkrej'  whispered 
the  princess. 

"  I .?  I .?  what  have  I  to  do  with  it  1  Consider  me  out 
of  the  question.  I'm  not  the  one  who  is  going  to  be 
married.  What 's  your  opinion  }  That  is  what  must  be 
known." 

The  princess  saw  that  her  father  did  not  regard  the 
matter  very  favorably,  but  at  the  same  time  the  thought 
occurred  to  her  that  now  or  never  the  whole  destiny  of 
her  life  hung  in  the  balance.  She  dropped  her  eyes, 
so  as  not  to  see  his  face,  because  she  knew  that  she 
could  not  think  if  she  were  under  its  dominion  but  even 
then  could  only  be  subject  to  him,  and  she  said:  — 

''  I  desire  only  one  thing,  to  fulfil  your  will ;  but  if  it 
be  necessary  for  me  to  express  my  desire ....  " 

She  had  no  time  to  finish  her  sentence.  The  prince 
interrupted  her. 

"That's  admirable,"  he  cried.  "He  will  take  you 
for  your  fortune,  and,  by  the  way,  hook  on  Mile.  Bouri- 
enne!      She  will  be  his  wife,  and   you".... the  prince 


46  WAR   AND    PEACE 

paused.  He  noticed  the  effect  produced  on  his  daugh- 
ter by  his  words.  She  hung  her  head,  and  was  ready 
to  burst  into  tears. 

''Well,  well,  I  was  only  jesting,"  said  he.  "Remem- 
ber this  one  thing,  princess ;  I  stick  to  my  principles 
that  a  girl  has  a  perfect  right  to  choose  for  herself.  I 
give  you  your  freedom.  Remember  this,  though,  the 
happiness  of  your  whole  life  depends  upon  your  decision. 
Leave  me  out  of  the  consideration." 

"  But  I  do  not  know....  imm pere'' 

"  There  's  nothing  to  be  said.  He  will  marry  as  he  is 
bid,  whether  it  be  you  or  somebody  else,  but  j^oi^  are 
free  to  choose.  Go  to  your  room;  think  it  over,  and  at 
the  end  of  an  hour  come  to  me  and  tell  me  in  his  pres- 
ence what  your  decision  is,  yea  or  no.  I  know  that 
you  '11  have  to  pray  over  it.     Well,  pray  if  you  please. 

Only  you'd  better  use  your  reason.     Get  you  gone 

Yes  or  no,  yes  or  no,  yes  or  no  !  "  cried  he,  as  the  prin- 
cess, still  as  if  in  a  mist,  left  the  room  with  tottering 
step. 

Her  fate  was  already  decided,  and  happily  decided. 
But  what  her  father  said  about  Mile.  Bourienne,  —  that 
insinuation  was  horrible.  False,  let  us  hope,  but  still 
it  was  horrible,  and  she  could  not  keep  it  out  of  her 
thoughts.  She  started  directly  to  her  room  through 
the  winter  garden,  seeing  nothing  and  hearing  nothing, 
when  suddenly  Mile.  Bourienne's  well-known  chatter 
struck  her  ear  and  woke  her  from  her  dreaming.  She 
^aised  her  eyes  and,  two  paces  away,  saw  Anatol  with 
LhQ  Frenchwoman  in  his  arms,  and  whispering  some- 
thing in  her  ear.  With  a  terrible  expression  on  his  hand- 
some face  he  looked  at  the  Princess  Mariya,  and  at  first 
did  not  release  Mile.  Bourienne,  who  had  not  seen  the 
princess  at  all. 

**  Who  is  here  ^  what  is  the  trouble  ?  Just  wait  a  lit- 
tle," Anatol's  face  seemed  to  say.  The  Princess  Mariya 
silently  gazed  at  them.  She  could  not  comprehend  it. 
Then  Mile.  Bourienne  uttered  a  cry  and  fled.  Anatol, 
with  an  amused  smile,  gave  the  princess  a  bow,  as  if 
asking  her  to  look  on  the  ridiculous  side  of  this  strange 


WAR   AND    PEACE  47 

behavior,    and,    shrugging    his    shoulders,    disappeared 
through  the  door  that  led  to  his  own  quarters. 

At  the  end  of  an  hour,  Tikhon  came  to  summon  the 
Princess  Mari'ya.  He  conducted  her  to  her  father's  room, 
and  told  her  that  Prince  Vasili  was  also  there.  When 
Tikhon  came  for  her,  the  princess  was  sitting  on  a  sofa 
in  her  room,  with  her  arm  around  Mile.  Bourienne.  The 
latter  was  weeping,  and  the  princess  was  softly  stroking 
her  hair.  The  princess's  beautiful  eyes,  with  aU  their 
usual  calmness  and  brilliancy,  gazed  with  affectionate 
love  and  sympathy  into  Mile.  Bourienne's  pretty  face. 

"  No,  princess,  my  place  is  forever  gone  from  your 
heart,"  said  Mile.  Bourienne. 

'*  Why,  I  love  you  more  than  ever,"  replied  the  Prin- 
cess Mariya,  *'  and  I  will  try  to  do  all  that  is  in  my  power 
for  your  happiness." 

•'  But  you  despise  me !  You,  who  are  so  pure,  will 
never  understand  this  frenzy  of  passion.  Ah  !  my  poor 
mother !  " 

"I  understand  it  all,"  replied  the  princess,  with  a 
melancholy  smile.  ''  Compose  yourself,  my  friend,  I  am 
going  to  see  my  father,"  said  she,  and  left  the  room. 

Prince  Vasili,  —  with  one  leg  thrown  across  his  knee, 
and  holding  his  snuff-box  in  his  hand,  —  excited  to  the 
last  degree,  and  appearing  as  if  he  felt  a  sort  of  pity  for 
himself  and  yet  amused  at  his  own  emotion,  was  sitting 
with  an  anxious  smile  on  his  face  as  the  Princess  Mariya 
entered  the  room.  He  hastily  applied  a  pinch  of  snuff 
to  his  nose. 

''A/if  ma  bonne,  ma  botine!''  he  exclaimed,  rising 
and  seizing  her  by  both  hands.  He  sighed,  and  added, 
*'  My  son's  fate  is  in  your  hands.  Decide,  ma  bonne,  ma 
chere,  ma  douce  Marie  !  I  have  always  loved  you  as  if 
you  were  my  own  daughter."  He  turned  away.  Genu- 
ine tears  stood  in  his  eyes. 

**  Fr  ! ....  fr  !"  ....  snorted  Prince  Nikolat  Andreyitch. 
''The  prince  in  the  name  of  his  pupil....  I  mean  his  son 
....  makes  you  an  offer.  Will  you  or  will  you  not  be  the 
wife  of  Prince  Anatol  Kuragin .?  Speak:  yes  or  no," 
cried  he.     "  And  then  I  reserve  to  myself  the  right  of 


48  WAR    AND    PEACE 

giving  my"  opinion  also.  Yes,  my  opinion,  and  my 
opinion  only,"  added  Prince  Nikolai"  Andreyitch,  in  reply 
to  Prince  Vasili's  beseeching  expression.     "  Yes  or  no  ?  " 

"  My  desire,  rnon  ph-e,  is  never  to  leave  you,  never  to 
part  from  you  as  long  as  we  live.  I  do  not  wish  to 
marry,"  said  she  with  firm  deliberation,  fixing  her  lovely 
eyes  on  Prince  Vasi'li  and  on  her  father. 

"  Folly  !  nonsense  !  nonsense  !  nonsense  !  "  cried 
Prince  Nikolai  Andreyitch,  frowning;  he  drew  his 
daughter  to  him,  yet  he  did  not  kiss  her,  but  merely 
brought  his  forehead  close  to  hers,  and  squeezed  her  hand, 
which  he  held  in  his,  so  that  she  screamed  out  with  pain. 
Prince  Vasili  arose  :  — 

''  My  dear,  I  will  tell  you  that  this  is  a  moment  that 
I  shall  never  forget,  never !  but,  my  dear,  can't  you  give 
us  a  little  hope  of  ever  touching  your  kind  and  generous 
heart }  Say  that  perhaps  ....  the  future  is  so  long.  Only 
say  '  perhaps.'  " 

*'  Prince,  what  I  have  told  you  is  all  that  my  heart  can 
say.  I  thank  you  for  the  honor,  but  I  can  never  be 
your  son's  wife." 

"  Well,,  that  ends  it,  my  dear  fellow.  Very  glad  to  have 
seen  you.  Very  glad  to  have  seen  you.  Go  to  your  room, 
princess,  go  to  your  room,"  said  the  old  prince.  "Very, 
very  glad  to  have  seen  you,"  he  reiterated,  embracing 
Prince  Vasili. 

•''  My  vocation  is  different,"  said  the  Princess  Mariya 
to  herself,  '*  my  vocation  is  to  be  happy  in  the  happiness 
of  others ;  a  different  sort  of  happiness,  the  happiness 
of  love  and  self-sacrifice.  And  as  far  as  within  me  lies, 
I  will  bring  about  the  happiness  of  poor  Amelie.  She 
loves  him  so  passionately.  She  repents  her  conduct  so 
bitterly.  I  will  do  everything  to  bring  about  a  marriage 
between  them.  If  he  is  not  rich,  I  will  give  her  the 
means,  I  will  petition  my  father,  I  will  ask  Andrei". 
And  I  shall  be  so  happy  when  she  becomes  his  wife. 
She  is  so  unfortunate,  lonely,  and  helpless  in  a  strange 
land.  And  Bozhe  mo'i  !  how  passionately  she  must  love 
him,  if  she  can  so  far  forget  herself.  Maybe,  I  myself 
should  have  done  the  same  thing  !  "  ....  thought  the  Prin- 
cess Mariya. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  49 


CHAPTER  VI 


The  Rostof s  had  not  heard  for  a  long  time  from  their 
Nikolushka,  and  it  was  near  the  middle  of  winter  when 
a  letter  was  handed  to  the  count,  on  the  envelope  of 
which  he  recognized  his  son's  handwriting.  On  receipt 
of  the  letter,  the  count  hastily  and  anxiously  stole  off 
to  his  own  cabinet,  walking  on  his  tiptoes,  so  as  to  es- 
cape observation,  and  shut  himself  in,  and  began  to 
read  it.  Anna  Mikhailovna,  learning  about  the  arrival 
of  the  letter,  —  for  she  knew  everything  that  took  place 
in  the  house,  —  quietly  followed  the  count,  and  found 
him  with  the  letter  in  his  hands,  sobbing  and  laughing 
at  the  same  time. 

Anna  Mikhailovna,  notwithstanding  the  improvement 
in  her  affairs,  still  continued  to  live  at  the  Rostofs. 

''My  dearfrimd;'  exclaimed  Anna  Mikhailovna,  with 
a  tone  of  pathetic  inquiry  in  her  voice,  and  prepared  to 
give  him  sympathy  to  any  extent. 

The  count  sobbed  still  more  violently:  "Nikolushka 
....a  letter....  wounded  ....  he  wa-wa-was  w-wounded  .... 
ma  chere....  wounded,  my  darling  boy  ^ ....  the  little  coun- 
tess.... he's  been...!  made  an  officer ....  glory  to  God, 
.y/^z;^  i?^/////....how  cani  tell  the  little....  countess.?"  .... 

Anna  MikhaYlovna  sat  down  by  him,  wiped  the  tears 
from  his  eyes  with  her  handkerchief,  and  from  the 
letter,  for  they  were  dropping  on  it,  and  then  from  her 
own  eyes,  read  the  letter  herself,  soothed  the  count, 
and  decided  that  she  would  use  the  time  till  dinner,  and 
even  tea,  for  preparing  the  countess,  and  then  after  tea 
she  would  break  the  news  to  her,  if  God  would  only  aid 
her. 

During  dinner-time,  Anna  Mikhailovna  talked  about 
the  events  of  the  war  and  about  Nikolushka,  and  asked 
twice  when  they  had  received  the  last  letter  from  him 
—  though  she  herself  knew  perfectly  well,  and  re- 
marked that  very  likely  they  might  have  a  letter  from 
him,  perhaps  that  day.     Every  time  when,  at  such  in- 

l  Galubchik. 
VOL.  11.-4 


50  WAR    AND    PEACE 

sinuations,  the  countess  began  to  grow  uneasy,  and 
glance  anxiously  first  at  the  count  and  then  at  Anna 
MikhaYlovna,  Anna  Mikhailovna  most  adroitly  led  the 
conversation  to  insignificant  topics. 

Natasha  more  than  the  rest  of  the  family  was  endowed 
with  peculiar  sensitiveness  to  shades  of  intonation,  to 
the  looks  and  expressions  of  faces,  and,  as  soon  as 
dinner  began,  she  pricked  up  her  ears,  and  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  some  secret  between  her  father 
and  Anna  Mikhailovna,  and  that  it  was  something  re- 
ferring to  her  brother,  and  that  Anna  Mikhailovna  was 
trying  to  "prepare"  some  one.  Notwithstanding  all 
her  audacity,  she  dared  not  ask  any  questions  during 
dinner-time,  for  she  knew  too  well  how  sensitive  her 
mother  was  in  regard  to  all  that  related  to  her  son.;  but 
her  curiosity  was  so  great  that  she  ate  nothing,  and 
kept  turning  and  twisting  in  her  chair,  in  spite  of  the 
reproaches  of  her  governess.  After  dinner,  she  rushed 
precipitately  after  Anna  Mikhailovna,  and  threw  herself 
into  her  arms.     "  Aunty  darling,^  tell  what  it  is  !  " 

"Nothing,  my  dear." 

"  Yes,  there  is,  dearest,  sweet  one,  you  old  pet,^  and  I 
shan't  let  you  go  till  you  tell  me,  for  I  know  that  you 
know." 

Anna  Mikhailovna  shook  her  head :  "  You  're  a  little 
witch,  child,"  said  she. 

"  A  letter  from  Nikolenka  ?  Truly,  is  n't  that  it  ?  " 
cried  Natasha,  reading  an  affirmative  answer  in  Anna 
Mikhailovna's  face. 

"  Yes,  but  for  heaven's  sake  be  more  cautious ;  you 
know  how  this  might  trouble  your  maman.'' 

"I  will,  I  will,  but  tell  me  all  about  it!  —  You  won't 
tell  me  ?     Well,  then,  I  'm  going  right  to  tell  her !  " 

Anna  Mikhailovna  in  few  words  told  Natasha  the 
contents  of  the  letter,  under  the  conditions  of  secrecy. 

"  My  true,  true  word  of  honor,"  said  Natasha,  cross- 
ing herself,  "I  won't  tell  any  one,"  and  she  immediately 
went  to  Sonya. 

^  I'ydtenka,  galubushka. 

2  Dushenka  (^little  soul)  galubchik,  milaya  {^^^x),persik  (peach). 


WAR    AND    PEACE  51 

"  Nikolenka  ....  wounded  ....  a  letter,"  she  exclaimed, 
triumphantly  and  joyously. 

"  Nicolas  !  "  cried  Sonya,  turning  pale. 

Natasha,  seeing  the  impression  produced  on  Sonya 
by  the  news  that  her  brother  was  wounded,  realized  for 
the  first  time  all  the  sorrowful  side  of  this  news. 

She  ran  to  Sonya,  threw  her  arms  around  her  neck, 
and  burst  into  tears. 

"  He  is  not  badly  wounded,  and  has  been  promoted 
to  be  an  officer ;  he  's  all  well  again,  for  he  wrote  the 
letter  himself,"  cried  she,  through  her  tears. 

** That's  the  way!  All  you  women  are  milksops!" 
exclaimed  Petya,  marching  with  long,  gallant  strides  up 
and  down  the  room.  "  I  am  very  glad,  indeed,  I  am. 
very  glad,  that  my  brother  has  distinguished  himself  so ! 
You  are  all  cry-babies.     You  haven't  any  sense  at  all." 

Natasha  smiled  through  her  tears  :  — 

"  You  have  n't  read  the  letter,  have  you  ?" 

"  No,  I  have  n't  read  it,  but  she  said  the  worst  was 
over,  and  that  he  was  already  an  officer." 

"  Glory  to  God  !  "  cried  Sonya,  crossing  herself.  "  But 
maybe  she  was  deceiving  you.     Let  us  go  to  mama/i  !  " 

Petya  walked  silently  up  and  down  the  room. 

*'  If  I  had  been  in  Nikolushka's  place,  I  should  have 
killed  still  more  of  those  Frenchmen,"  said  he,  after  a 
little ;  **  what  nasty  brutes  they  are !  I  would  have 
killed  such  a  lot  of  them  that  it  would  have  made  a  pile 
so  high,"  continued  Petya. 

"  Hush,  Petya  !  what  a  goose  you  are  !  " 

*'  I  am  not  a  goose,  but  you  are  geese  to  cry  over  mere 
trifles  !  "  said  he. 

"  Do  you  remember  him.?  "  suddenly  asked  Natasha, 
after  a  moment's  silence. 

Sonya  smiled  :   **  Do  I  remember  Nicolas  .'*  " 

"  No,  Sonya.  Do  you  remember  him  perfectly,  so 
that  you  can  recall  everything  about  him  } "  asked  Na- 
tasha, with  an  emphatic  gesture,  evidently  wishing  to 
give  her  words  the  most  serious  meaning.  **  Well,  now, 
I  remember  Nikolenka,  I  remember  him  well ;  but  I 
don't  remember  Bon's.     I  don't  remember  him  at  all' 


52  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"What?  You  don't  remember  Bon's!"  exclaimed 
Sonya,  in  amazement. 

"  No,  I  don't  really  remember  him.  I  have  a  general 
idea  how  he  looked,  but  I  can't  bring  him  up  before  me, 
as  I  can  Nikolenka.  If  I  shut  my  eyes  I  can  see,  but 
it  is  not  so  with  Bon's."  She  shut  her  eyes.  "  That 
way,  no,  not  at  all." 

"  Oh,  Natasha,"  said  Sonya,  looking  at  her  friend, 
with  enraptured  earnestness,  as  if  she  considered  her 
unworthy  to  hear  what  she  had  in  mind  to  say,  and  as 
if  she  were  saying  it  to  some  one  else,  with  whom  it  was 
impossible  to  jest.  **  I  love  your  brother,  and  whatever 
might  happen  to  him  or  to  me,  I  should  never  cease  to 
love  him  as  long  as  I  live  !  " 

Natasha  looked  at  Sonya  with  wondering  inquisitive 
eyes  and  made  no  answer.  She  felt  convinced  that 
what  Sonya  had  said  was  true  ;  that  what  Sonya  talked 
about  was  real  love  ;  but  Natasha  had  never  experienced 
anything  like  it.  She  believed  that  it  was  in  the  realm 
of  the  possible,  but  she  did  not  understand  it. 

"  Shall  you  write  him  ?  "  she  asked. 

Sonya  deliberated. 

The  question  how  to  write  to  Nicolas,  and  whether  it 
were  her  duty  to  write  to  him,  and  what  she  should  write 
to  him,  tormented  her.  Now  that  he  were  already  an 
officer,  and  a  wounded  hero,  it  was  a  question  of  doubt 
in  her  mind,  whether  it  would  be  right  for  her  to  remind 
him  of  herself,  and  of  the  promise  which  he  had  made 
her. 

"I  do  not  know.  I  think  if  he  writes  to  me,  then  I 
will  answer  it,"  she  replied,  blushing. 

"  And  shan't  you  feel  ashamed  to  write  him  }  " 

Sonya  smiled :  — 

"No." 

"Well,  I  should  feel  ashamed  to  write  to  Boris,  and  I 
am  not  going  to." 

"  Why  should  one  feel  ashamed  .''  " 

"  There  now,  I  'm  sure  I  don't  know.  It 's  awkward  ; 
anyway,  I  should  be  ashamed." 

"Well,   I  know  why  she  would   be   ashamed,"  said 


WAR   AND    PEACE  53 

Petya,  affronted  at  Natasha's  first  remark,  —  "because 
she  fell  in  love  with  that  fat  fellow  with  the  glasses  "  — 
he  meant  by  this  his  namesake,  Pierre,  the  new  Count 
BezukhoY  —  ''  and  now  she  's  in  love  with  that  singer  " — 
Petya  now  referred  to  an  Italian,  who  was  giving  Na- 
tasha singing  lessons  —  *' and  that's  why  she  would  be 
ashamed !  " 

''  Petya,  you  *re  too  silly." 

"I  'mno  sillier  than  you  are,  matushka!"  said  the  ten- 
year-old  lad,  exactly  as  if  he  were  an  elderly  brigadier. 

The  countess  had  been  "  prepared  "  during  dinner- 
time by  means  of  Anna  Mikhailovna's  hints.  Going  to 
her  own  room,  she  sat  down  on  her  sofa,  not  taking  her 
eyes  from  a  miniature  picture  of  her  son,  painted  on  her 
snuff-box,  and  her  eyes  quickly  filled  with  tears.  Anna 
Mikhailovna,  with  the  letter,  came  into  the  countess's 
room  on  her  tiptoes  and  remained  standing.  '*  Don't 
you  come  in,"  said  she  to  the  old  count,  who  was  follow- 
mg  her.  She  closed  the  door  behind  her.  The  count 
applied  his  ear  to  the  keyhole  and  tried  to  listen. 

At  first  all  that  he  heard  was  a  monotonous  sound  of 
voices  ;  then  Anna  Mikhailovna,  making  a  long  speech 
without  interruption  ;  then  a  shriek ;  then  silence  ;  then, 
again,  both  voices  speaking  together  with  joyful  inflec- 
tions, and  then  steps,  and  Anna  Mikhailovna  opened 
the  door.  Anna  Mikhailovna's  face  wore  the  proud  ex- 
pression of  a  surgical  operator,  who  has  just  accom- 
plished a  difficult  amputation  and  allows  the  public  to 
enter  and  appreciate  his  skill. 

"  It's  all  right,"  said  she  to  the  count,  pointing  with 
an  enthusiastic  gesture  to  the  countess,  who  held  in  one 
hand  the  snuff-box  with  the  portrait,  in  the  other  the 
letter,  and  was  pressing  her  lips  first  to  the  one  and  then 
to  the  other.  Seeing  the  count,  she  stretched  out  her 
arms  toward  him,  threw  them  round  his  bald  head,  and 
over  his  bald  head  looked  at  the  letter  and  the  portrait, 
and  then,  in  order  to  press  them  to  her  lips  again, 
gently  pushed  the  bald  head  away. 

Viera,  Natasha,  Sonya,  and  Petya  came  into  the 
room,  and  the  reading  of  the  letter  began.    It  contained 


54  WAR    AND    PEACE 

a  brief  description  of  the  campaign,  and  the  two  engage- 
ments  in  which  Nikolushka  had  taken  part ;  he  an- 
noanced  his  promotion,  and  said  that  he  kissed  viauians 
and  papa's  hands,  asking  for  their  blessing,  and  kissed 
Viera,  Natasha,  and  Petya.  Moreover,  he  made  his 
respects  to  Mr.  SchelHng  and  Madame  Chausse,  and 
his  old  nurse,  and  then  he  begged  them  to  kiss  his  dear 
Sonya,  whom  he  had  always  loved  so,  and  whom  he 
had  remembered  so  affectionately. 

When  Sonya  heard  this,  she  blushed  so  that  the  tears 
came  into  her  eyes.  And,  not  able  to  endure  the 
glances  fastened  on  her,  she  ran  into  the  drawing-parlor, 
whirled  round  it  at  full  speed,  her  dress  flying  out  like 
a  balloon,  and  then  plumped  down  on  the  floor,  all 
flushed  and  smiling.     The  countess  was  weeping. 

"What  makes  you  cry,  majnanf  asked  Viera. 
'*  Everything  that  he  writes  seems  to  me  a  cause  for 
rejoicing,  and  not  for  weeping  !  " 

This  was  perfectly  true,  but,  nevertheless,  the  count 
and  the  countess,  and  Natasha,  all  looked  at  her  re- 
proachfully. 

"Whom  is  she  like,  I  wonder!  "  said  the  countess,  to 
herself. 

Nikolushka's  letter  was  re-read  a  hundred  times,  and 
those  who  felt  themselves  entitled  to  hear  it  had  to  go 
to  the  countess,  who  w^ould  not  let  it  out  of  her  hands. 
The  tutors  came,  and  the  nurses,  and  Mitenka,  and  ever 
so  many  acquaintances,  and  the  countess  read  the  letter 
to  them  each  time  with  new  delight,  each  time  dis- 
covering new  virtues  in  her  Nikolushka.  How  strange, 
marvelous,  and  beautiful  it  was  to  her  that  her  son  — 
that  son,  the  almost  imperceptible  motions  of  whose 
tiny  limbs  she  had  felt  twenty  years  before,  that  son 
over  whom  she  had  quarreled  with  the  count  for  spoil- 
ing him,  that  son  who  had  learned  to  say  grusJia  first 
and  then  baba  —  that  this  same  son  was  now  far  away 
in  a  foreign  land,  in  foreign  surroundings,  a  heroic 
soldier,  alone,  without  help  or  guidance,  performing 
there  his  part  in  the  deeds  of  heroes.  The  universal 
experience  of  the  world  in  all  ages,  going  to  show  that 


WAR   AND    PEACE  55 

children  by  imperceptible  steps  march  from  the  cradle 
into  manhood,  was  not  realized  by  the  countess.  The 
attainment  of  manhood  by  her  son  was  at  every  step  as 
extraordinary  as  if  there  had  not  been  millions  upon 
milHons  of  men  who  had  gone  through  exactly  the  same 
process.  Just  as  twenty  years  before  it  had  been  almost 
impossible  for  her  to  believe  that  the  mysterious  little 
being  that  was  living  and  moving  somewhere  under  her 
heart  would  ever  wail  and  nurse  and  learn  to  talk,  so 
now,  it  was  incredible  that  this  same  being  had  become 
a  strong,  gallant  man,  the  paragon  of  sons  and  of  men, 
such  as  he  was  now,  judging  by  his  letter. 

'*  What  a  style  he  has  !  How  elegantly  he  expresses 
himself,"  said  she,  as  she  read  over  the  descriptive  por- 
tions of  the  letter.  "  And  how  much  soul !  Nothing 
about  himself,  nothing  at  all!  Something  about  that 
Denisof,  but  he  himself  must  have  been  braver  than  all 
the  rest !  He  writes  nothing  at  all  about  his  sufferings  ! 
How  much  heart  he  has!  How  well  I  know  him! 
And  how  kindly  he  remembered  all  the  household !  He 
did  not  forget  a  single  one !  But  I  always  said  it  of 
him,  even  when  he  was  ever  so  little  —  I  always  said 
it."  .... 

For  more  than  a  week  rough  drafts  of  letters  to  Niko- 
lushka  v/ere  prepared  and  written  and  copied  out  on 
white  paper  by  the  whole  family  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  the  countess  and  the  zealous  care  of  the  count, 
all  sorts  of  necessary  articles  were  made  into  a  parcel, 
together  with  money  for  the  new  uniform  and  the  instal- 
lation of  the  newly  appointed  officer. 

Anna  Mikhailovna,  a  practical  woman,  had^  been 
shrewd  enough  to  secure  for  her  son  a  protector  in  the 
army,  even  for  the  better  forwarding  of  correspondence. 
She  had  managed  to  find  the  opportunity  of  sending  her 
letters  in  care  of  the  Grand  Duke  Konstantin  Pavlovitch, 
who  commanded  the  Guards.  The  Rostofs  had  sup- 
posed 'C^?^  Riisskaya  Gvardiya  za  Granitsei — the  Rus- 
sian Guard  on  service  abroad  —  was  a  sufficiently  definite 
address,  and  that  if  a  letter  reached  the  grand  duke 
commanding  the  Guards,  then  there  was  no  reason  why 


SS  WAR   AND   PEACE 

it  should  not  reach  the  Pavlogracl  regiment,  which  must 
be  somewhere  near ;  and  therefore  it  was  decided  to  be 
best  to  send  the  packet  and  the  money  by  the  grand 
duke's  courier  to  Boris,  and  Bon's  would  see  to  it  that  it 
was  put  in  Nikolushka's  hands.  There  were  letters 
from  the  old  count,  from  the  countess,  from  Petya,  from 
Viera,  from  Natasha,  from  Sonya,  and  finally  six  thou- 
sand rubles  for  his  outfit,  and  various  things  which  the 
count  wished  to  send  his  son. 


CHAPTER   VII 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  November,  Kutuzof 's  fighting 
army,  bivouacked  near  Olmiitz,  made  ready  to  be  re- 
viewed on  the  following  day  by  the  emperor  of  Russia 
and  the  emperor  of  Austria.  The  Imperial  Guards 
which  had  just  arrived  from  Russia  encamped  about 
fifteen  versts  from  Olmiitz,  and  on  the  next  day  were  to 
proceed  directly  to  the  review,  which  would  take  place 
about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  on  the  parade-ground 
at  Olmiitz. 

Nikolai  Rostof  on  that  day  had  received  a  note  from 
Boris  informing  him  that  the  Izmailovsky  regiment  was 
going  to  encamp  about  fifteen  versts  away,  and  that  he 
wanted  to  see  him  to  give  him  some  letters  and  some 
money.  The  money  came  particularly  handy  to  Rostof 
just  now,  when,  after  the  toils  of  the  campaign,  the  army 
had  settled  down  at  Olmiitz,  and  well-provided  sutlers 
and  Austrian  Jews,  offering  all  sorts  of  enticements, 
infested  the  camp.  The  Pavlograd  warriors  enjoyed 
banquet  after  banquet,  celebrated  in  honor  of  promo- 
tions won  during  the  campaign,  as  well  as  excursions 
into  town  where  Karolina,  called  Vengerka,  or  the  Hun- 
garian, had  recently  opened  a  tavern,  at  which  all  the 
waiters  were  girls. 

Rostof  had  just  celebrated  his  promotion  from  yunker 
to  cornet,  had  bought  Denisof's  horse  Bedouin,  and  was 
in  debt  to  his  comrades  and  the  sutlers  on  every  side. 
On   receipt  of  the  note  from  Boris,  Rostof  rode  into 


WAR   AND    PEACE  57 

Olmiitz  with  some  comrades,  dined  there,  drank  a  bottle 
of  wine,  and  rode  off  alone  to  the  Guard's  camp  to  find 
the  friend  and  companion  of  his  youth. 

Rostof  had  not  as  yet  had  a  chance  to  procure  his  new 
uniform.  He  wore  a  yunker's  jacket  well  soiled,  with  a 
private's  cross,  his  ordinary  much-worn  leather-seated 
riding  trousers,  and  an  officer's  saber  with  the  sword- 
knot  ;  the  horse  he  rode  was  a  Don  pony  which  he  had 
bought  during  the  campaign,  of  a  Cossack ;  his  crumpled 
cap  was  rakishly  set  sidewise  on  the  back  of  his  head. 

When  he  reached  the  camp  of  the  Izmailovsky  regi- 
ment, he  thought  how  much  he  should  surprise  Boris  and 
all  his  comrades  of  the  Guard  by  appearing  before  them 
hke  a  veteran  who  had  been  under  fire. 

The  Guard  had  made  the  whole  campaign  like  a 
picnic,  making  a  great  display  of  their  neatness  and  dis- 
cipline. Their  marches  had  been  short,  their  knapsacks 
had  been  transported  on  the  baggage-wagons,  and  the 
officers  had  been  given  splendid  entertainments  at  every 
halting-place  by  the  Austrian  authorities.  The  regiments 
entered  and  left  the  cities  with  music  playing,  and  during 
the  whole  campaign,  much  to  the  pride  of  the  Guard,  the 
men  had  marched  in  serried  ranks,  keeping  step,  while 
the  officers,  mounted,  rode  in  their  places  of  assignment. 

Bon's  during  the  whole  campaign  had  marched  and 
halted  with  Berg,  who  had  now  risen  to  be  rotnui  komandir, 
or  captain.  Berg  having  been  given  a  company,  had 
succeeded  by  his  promptness  and  punctuality  in  winning 
the  good-will  of  his  superiors,  and  his  financial  affairs 
were  now  in  very  good  shape.  Bon's  had  made  many 
acquaintances  with  men  who  might  be  of  service  to  him, 
and  by  means  of  a  letter  of  introduction  given  him  by 
Pierre,  had  become  acquainted  with  Prince  Andrei 
Bolkonsky,  through  whom  he  hoped  to  obtain  a  place 
on  the  staff  of  the  commander-in-chief. 

Berg  and  Boris,  neatly  and  elegantly  dressed,  were 
resting  after  their  day's  journey,  and,  seated  in  a  neat 
room  which  had  been  made  ready  for  them,  were  play- 
ing checkers  at  a  small  round  table.  Berg  held  between 
his  knees  the  pipe  which  he  was  smoking.     Bon's,  with 


58  WAR   AND    PEACE 

che  carefulness  characteristic  of  him,  had  piled  up  the 
checkers  in  pyramidal  form  with  his  delicate  white 
fingers,  and  was  waiting  for  Berg's  move,  and  looking 
at  his  opponent's  face,  evidently  thinking  only  of  the 
game,  just  as  he  always  thought  only  of  what  occupied 
him  at  the  moment. 

"  There  now,  how  will  you  get  out  of  that  ?"  he  asked. 

"  We  '11  do  our  best,"  replied  Berg,  touching  a  king, 
and  then  dropping  his  hand  again. 

At  this  moment  the  door  opened. 

"Ah,  there  he  is  at  last,"  cried  Rostof.  "And  Berg 
here  too  !  Ah,  you  '  petizanfan  ale  kushe  dormir ! '  "  ^  he 
cried,  quoting  the  words  of  their  old  nurse,  in  which  he 
and  Boris  always  found  great  amusement. 

"  Batyushki!     How  you  have  changed!" 

Boris  arose  to  meet  Rostof,  but  as  he  did  so  he  took 
pains  to  pick  up  and  replace  the  checkers  that  had  fallen, 
and  he  was  about  to  embrace  his  friend,  but  NikolaY 
slipped  out  of  his  grasp.  With  that  feeling  peculiar  to 
youth,  which  suggests  the  avoidance  of  beaten  paths, 
and  the  expression  of  feelings  like  every  one  else,  and 
especially  that  often  hypocritical  fashion  which  obtains 
with  our  elders,  Nikolai  wanted  to  do  something  unusual 
and  original,  on  the  occasion  of  meeting  his  friends ;  he 
wanted  to  give  Boris  a  pinch  or  a  push,  anything  except 
kiss  him,  as  was  universally  done. 

Boris,  on  the  contrary,  threw  his  arns  around  Rostof 
in  a  composed  and  friendly  fashion,  and  kissed  him 
three  times.  They  had  not  met  for  almost  six  months, 
and  in  such  an  interval,  when  young  men  have  been 
taking  their  first  steps  on  the  pathway  of  life,  each 
finds  in  the  other  immense  changes,  due  to  surround- 
ings so  entirely  different  from  those  in  which  they  had 
taken  the  first  steps  of  life.  Both  had  changed  greatly 
since  they  had  last  met,  and  each  was  equally  anxious 
to  show  the  other  the  changes  that  they  had  under- 
gone. 

"  Oh  !  you  cursed  dandies  !  Spruce  and  shiny,  just 
in  from  a  promenade !     Not  much  like  us  poor  sinners 

^ Petiis  enfants,  allez  coucher,  dormir !     Little  children,  go  to  sleep! 


WAR    AND    PEACE  S9 

of  the  Line!  "  exclaimed  Rostof,  with  baritone  notes  in 
his  voice,  and  with  brusque  army  manners,  quite  new 
to  Bon's,  and  he  exhibited  his  own  dirty  and  bespat- 
tered trousers.  On  hearing  Rostof's  loud  voice,  the 
German  mistress  of  the  house  put  her  head  in  through 
the  door. 

"  Rather  pretty,  hey  ? "  cried  Nikolai',  with  a  wink. 

"  What  makes  you  shout  so  ?  You  v/ill  scare  them !  " 
said  Bon's.  "  I  wasn't  expecting  you  to-day,"  he  added. 
"  It  was  only  this  afternoon  that  I  sent  my  note  to  you 
through  an  acquaintance  of  mine,  Kutuzof's  aide,  Bol- 
konsky.  I  did  n't  think  of  its  reaching  you  so  soon. 
Well,  how  are  you  ?  So  you  've  been  under  fire  already, 
have  you  .?  "  asked  Bon's. 

Rosiof  said  nothing  in  reply,  but  shook  the  Geor- 
gievsky  -^ross  on  the  lace  of  his  coat,  and,  pointing  to 
his  arm  which  he  carried  in  a  sling,  looked  at  Berg  with 
a  smile. 

*'  As  you  see,"  said  he. 

'*  Well,  well,  so  you  have !  "  returned  Bon's  with  a 
smile,  ''  and  we  also  have  had  a  glorious  campaign. 
You  know  his  imperial  highness  was  most  of  the  time 
near  our  regiment,  so  that  we  had  all  sorts  of  privileges 
and  advantages.  What  receptions  we  had  in  Poland, 
what  dinners  and  balls !  I  can't  begin  to  tell  you ! 
and  the  Tsesarevitch  ^  was  very  courteous  to  all  of  us 

Ofhc  .!:>.'' 

Then  the  two  friends  related  their  experiences;  the 
one  telling  of  the  jolly  good  times  with  the  hussars,  and 
his  campaign  life ;  the  other  of  the  pleasures  and  ad- 
vantages of  serving  under  the  direct  command  of  men 
high  in  authority  and  so  on. 

"Oh,  you  guardsmen!"  cried  Rostof.  "But  come 
now,  send  out  for  some  wine." 

Bon's  scowled.  "  Certainly,  if  you  really  wish  it," 
and  going  to  his  couch  he  took  out  from  under  the 
clean  pillow  a  purse,  and  ordered  his  man  to  bring 
wine.  "  Oh,  yes ;  and  I  will  deliver  over  to  you  some 
letters  and  your  money,"  h.e  added. 

^  The  crown  prince. 


6o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Rostof  took  his  packet  and,  flinging  the  money  on  the 
sofa,  leaned  both  elbows  on  the  table  and  began  to 
read.  He  read  a  few  lines  and  then  gave  Berg  a  wrath- 
ful glance.  Berg's  eyes,  fastened  upon  him,  annoyed 
him,  and  he  shielded  his  face  with  the  letter. 

"  Well,    they  've    sent   you    a    good    lot   of    money, 
exclaimed     Berg,    glancing    at    the    heavy    purse,    half 
buried  in  the  sofa.     "And  here  we  have  to  live  on  our 
salaries,  count !     Now  I  will  tell  you  about  myself." 

''Look  here,  Berg,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Rostof, 
"whenever  I  find  you  with  a  letter  just  received  from 
home,  and  with  a  man  with  whom  you  want  to  talk  about 
all  sorts  of  things,  I  will  instantly  leave  you  so  as  not  to 
disturb  you.  Hear  what  I  say,  get  you  gone  anywhere, 
anywhere ;  to  the  devil,"  he  cried,  and  then  seizing  him 
by  the  shoulder  and  giving  him  an  affectionate  look  full 
in  the  face,  evidently  for  the  purpose  of  modifying  the 
rudeness  of  his  words,  he  added,  "  Now  see  here,  don't 
be  angry  with  me,  my  dear  heart, ^  I  speak  frankly 
because  you  are  an  old  acquaintance." 

"Akh!  for  heaven's  sake,  count!  I  understand  per- 
fectly," said  Berg,  getting  up  and  swallowing  down  his 
throaty  voice. 

"  Go  and  see  our  hosts ;  they  have  invited  you,"  sug- 
gested Bon's. 

Berg  put  on  his  immaculate,  neat,  and  dustle^s  coat, 
went  to  the  mirror,  brushed  the  hair  up  from  his  tem- 
ples, after  the  style  of  the  emperor,  Alexander.  Pavlo- 
vitch,  and,  being  persuaded  by  Rostof's  looks  that  his 
coat  was  noticeable,  left  the  room  with  a  smile  of  satis- 
faction. 

"  Akh !  what  a  brute  I  am,  though !  "  exclaimed 
Rostof,  reading  the  letter. 

"What  now.?" 

"  Akh !  what  a  pig  I  am,  that  I  did  not  write  them 
sooner,  and  frightened  them  so  !  Akh  !  what  a  pig  I 
am  !  "  he  repeated,  suddenly  reddening.  "  Well,  you  've 
sent  Gavrilo  for  wine,  have  you .''  Very  good,  we  '11 
have  a  drink !  "  said  he. 

1  Galubchik. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  6i 

Among  the  home  letters,  there  was  inclosed  a  note 
of  recommendation  to  Prince  Bagration,  which  the  old 
countess  at  Anna  Mikhaiiovna's  suggestion  had  obtained 
from  some  acquaintance  and  sent  to  her  son,  urging 
him  to  present  it  and  get  all  the  advantage  that  he 
could  from  it. 

*'  What  nonsense  !  Much  I  need  this  !  "  said  Rostof, 
flinging  the  letter  on  the  table. 

'*  Why  did  you  throw  it  down  ?  "  asked  Bon's. 

"  Oh !  it  was  a  letter  of  recommendation ;  what  the 
deuce  do  I  want  of  such  a  letter !  " 

''Why  do  you  say  that?"  asked  Boris,  picking  up 
the  letter  and  reading  the  inscription  ;  ''this  letter  might 
be  very  useful  to  you." 

"  I  don't  need  anything,  and  I  don't  care  to  become 
any  one's  aide!  " 

"  Why  not,  pray  ?  "  asked  Boris. 

"  It 's  a  lackey's  place  !  " 

"  You  still  have  the  same  queer  notions,  I  see,"  re- 
joined Bon's,  shaking  his  head. 

"  And  you  're  the  same  old  diplomat.  However,  that 's 
not  to  the  point.      How  are  you  .?"  asked  Rostof. 

"  Just  exactly  as  you  see !  So  far,  all  has  gone  well 
with  me.  But  I  confess  I  should  very  much  like  to  be 
made  an  aide,  and  not  stick  to  the  Line." 

"Why.?" 

"  Because,  having  once  entered  upon  the  profession 
of  arms,  it  is  best  to  make  one's  career  as  brilliant  as 
possible." 

"Yes,  that's  true,"  said  Rostof,  evidently  thinking  of 
something  else.  He  gave  his  friend  a  steady,  inquiring 
look,  evidently  trying  in  vain  to  find  in  his  eyes  the 
answer  co  some  puzzling  question. 

Old  Gavrilo  brought  the  wine. 

"  Had  n't  we  better  send  now  for  Alphonse  Karluitch," 
asked  Bon's.     "  He  will  drink  with  you,  for  I  can't." 

"Yes,  do  send  for  him  !  But  who  is  this  Dutchman  ? " 
asked  Rostof,  with  a  scornful  smile. 

"  He  's  a  very,  very  nice,  honorable,  and  pleasant  man,*' 
explained  Bon's. 


62  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Rostof  once  more  looked  steadily  into  Boris's  eyes 
and  sighed.  Berg  came  back,  and  over  the  bottle  of 
wine  the  conversation  between  the  three  officers  grew 
more  lively.  The  two  guardsmen  told  Rostof  of  their 
march,  and  how  they  had  been  honored  in  Russia, 
Poland,  and  abroad.  They  told  about  the  sayings  and 
doings  of  their  commander,  the  grand  duke,  together 
with  anecdotes  about  his  goodness  and  irascibility. 

Berg,  as  usual,  kept  silent  when  there  was  nothing 
that  specially  concerned  himself,  but  when  they  began 
to  speak  about  the  goodness  and  irascibility  of  the  grand 
duke,  he  told  with  great  gusto  how,  in  Galicia,  he  hap- 
pened to  have  a  talk  with  the  grand  duke.  The  grand 
duke  was  making  the  tour  of  the  regiment,  and  became 
very  angry  at  the  disorderly  state  of  the  division.  With 
a  smile  of  complacency  on  his  face.  Berg  told  how  the 
grand  duke,  in  a  great  state  of  vexation,  came  up  to  it 
and  shouted  :  ''  Arnautui}  villains,"  being  a  favorite  term 
of  abuse  when  he  was  vexed,  and  called  the  company 
commander. 

''Would  you  believe  it,  count,  I  was  not  in  the  least 
scared,  because  I  knew  that  I  was  all  right.  And,  count, 
I  may  say  without  boasting,  that  I  knew  all  the  regula- 
tions by  heart,  and  the  standing  orders  as  well ;  knew 
them  just  as  well  as  '  Our  Father  in  Heaven.'  And  so, 
count,  in  my  company,  there  was  no  complaint  to  be 
made  of  negligence.  And  that  was  the  reason  of  my 
being  so  composed  and  having  such  an  untroubled  con- 
science. I  stepped  forward,"  —  here  Berg  stood  up  and 
represented  in  pantomime  how  he  had  raised  his  hand 
to  his  visor  as  he  stepped  forward ;  really  it  would  have 
been  hard  to  imagine  a  face  more  expressive  of  deference 
and  self-sufficiency.  —  "  Oh  !  how  he  scolded  me,  rated 
me,  you  might  say,  rated  and  rated  and  rated  mortally 
—  *  not  for  life,  but  for  death,'  as  the  Russians  say,  and 

^  Arnautka  is  the  South  Russian  name  for  a  kind  of  hard  wheat,  prob- 
ably derived  from  an  Albanian  tribe,  Arnatd,  which  is  also  the  name  of  a 
portion  of  the  army  in  Turkey,  composed  of  Christians;  hence  a  term  of 
reproach:  "abortion,"  "a  savage,"  "a  bursurman  (Mussulman,  unbe- 
liever)." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  63 

called  me  an  Arnaut  and  a  devil,  and  threatened  me 
with  Siberia,"  proceeded  Berg,  with  a  shrewd  smile. 
"  But  I  knew  that  I  was  in  the  right,  and  so  I  made  no 
reply ;  was  n't  that  best,  count  ?  '  What !  are  you  dumb  ? ' 
he  cried.  Still  I  held  my  tongue.  What  do  you  think, 
count .?  On  the  next  day,  there  was  nothing  at  all  about 
it  in  the  general  orders  ;  that 's  what  comes  of  not  losing 
one's  wits.  That 's  so,  count,"  said  Berg,  lighting  his 
pipe,  and  sending  out  rings  of  smoke. 

''Yes,  that's  splendid,"  said  Rostof,  with  a  smile;  but 
Boris,  perceiving  that  Rostof  was  all  ready  to  poke  fun 
at  Berg,  adroitly  changed  the  conversation.  He  asked 
Rostof  to  tell  them  how  and  where  he  had  been  wounded. 

This  was  agreeable  to  Rostof,  and  he  began  to  give  a 
circumstantial  account  of  it,  growing  more  and  more  ani- 
mated all  the  time. 

He  described  his  action  at  Schongraben  exactly  in 
the  way  those  who  take  part  in  battles  always  describe 
them ;  that  is,  in  the  way  they  would  be  glad  to  have 
had  them  happen,  so  that  his  story  agreed  with  all  the 
other  accounts  of  the  participants,  but  was  very  far  from 
being  as  it  was. 

Rostof  was  a  truthful  young  man ;  not  for  anything 
in  the  world  would  he  have  deliberately  told  a  falsehood. 
He  began  with  the  intention  of  telling  it  exactly  as  it 
happened,  but  imperceptibly,  involuntarily,  and  unavoid- 
ably, as  far  as  he  was  concerned,  he  fell  into  falsehood. 
If  he  had  told  the  truth  to  these  listeners  of  his,  who  had 
already  heard  from  others,  just  as  he  himself  had  many 
times,  the  story  of  the  charge,  and  had  formed  a  definite 
idea  of  how  the  charge  was  made,  and  expected  a  sub- 
stantially similar  account  of  it  from  him,  either  they 
would  not  have  believed  him,  or,  what  would  have  been 
worse,  they  would  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
Rostof  was  himself  to  blame  for  it,  and  that  he  had  not 
experienced  what  he  claimed  to  have  experienced,  since 
it  did  not  agree  with  what  is  usually  related  of  cavalry 
charges. 

He  could  not  tell  them,  in  so  many  words,  that  they 
had  all  started  on  the  trot,  that  he  had  fallen  from  his 


64  WAR    AND    PEACE 

horse,  sprained  his  arm,  and  run  away  from  the  French 
man  with  all  his  might  and  main,  into  the  forei-t.  More- 
over, in  order  to  tell  the  story  in  its  ^nm  reality,  he 
would  have  been  obliged  to  exsrclse  much  self-control 
to  tell  only  what  had  occurred.  To  tell  the  truth  is  very 
hard,  and  young  men  are  rarely  capable  of  it.  It  was 
expected  of  him  to  tell  how  he  grew  excited  under  the 
fire,  and,  forgetting  himself,  had  dashed  like  a  whirl- 
wind against  the  square,  how  he  had  cut  and  slashed 
with  his  saber  right  and  left,  as  a  knife  cuts  cheese,  and 
how  at  length  he  had  fallen  from  exhaustion,  and  the 
like.     And  that  was  what  he  told  them. 

In  the  midst  of  his  tale,  just  as  he  was  saying  the 
words,  ''  You  can't  imagine  what  a  strange  sensation  of 
frenzy  you  experience  during  a  charge,"  Prince  Andrei 
Bolkonsky,  whom  Bon's  had  been  expecting,  came  into 
the  room. 

Prince  Andrei,  who  liked  to  bear  a  patronizing  re- 
lationship toward  young  men,  was  flattered  by  having 
Bon's  consigned  to  his  protection,  and  was  very  well 
disposed  toward  him.  Bon's  had  succeeded  in  making  a 
pleasant  impression  upon  him,  and  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  have  the  young  man's  desire  gratified.  Being 
sent  with  despatches  from  Kutuzof  to  the  Tsesarevitch, 
he  had  looked  up  his  young  protege,  expecting  to  find 
him  alone.  When  he  came  in  and  found  there  a  hussar 
of  the  Line,  relating  his  military  experiences,  a  sort  of 
individual  whom  Prince  Andrei  could  not  endure,  he 
gave  Boris  an  affectionate  smile,  scowled  at  Rostof, 
half  closing  his  eyes,  and,  with  a  stiff  little  bow,  took  his 
seat  wearily  and  indifferently  on  the  sofa. 

He  was  disgusted  at  finding  himself  in  uncongenial 
society. 

Rostof,  feeling  this  instinctively,  instantly  grew  an- 
gry. But  it  was  all  the  same  to  him  ;  it  was  a  stranger. 
He  looked  at  Bon's,  and  saw  that  he  seemed  to  be 
ashamed  of  being  in  company  with  a  hussar  of  the 
Line. 

Notwithstanding  Prince  Andrei's  disagreeable,  mock- 
ing tone,  notwithstanding  the  general  scorn  which,  from 


WAR   AND    PEACE  65 

his  point  of  view,  as  a  huse^j  of  the  Line,  Rostof  shared 
for  staff  aides,  to  which  r  umber  evidently  belonged  the 
gentleman  who  had  just  erxtered,  Rostof  felt  overwhelmed 
with  confusion,  reddened,  and  grew  silent.  Boris  asked 
what  was  the  news  at  headquarters,  and  whether  it  were 
indiscretion  for  him  to  inquire  about  future  movements. 

**  Probably  we  shall  advance,"  replied  Bolkonsky,  evi- 
dently not  wishing  to  commit  himself  further  in  the 
presence  of  strangers.  Berg  took  advantage  of  his  op- 
portunity to  ask,  with  his  usual  politeness,  whether  it 
were  true,  as  he  had  heard,  that  double  rations  of  forage 
were  to  be  supplied  to  captains  of  the  Line. 

At  this  Prince  Andrei  smiled,  and  replied  that  he 
could  not  give  an  opinion  in  regard  to  such  important 
questions  of  state,  and  Berg  laughed  heartily  with  de- 
light. 

**  In  regard  to  that  matter  of  yours,"  said  Prince^  An- 
drei*, turning  to  Bon's  again,  "we  will  talk  about  it  by 
and  by,"  and  he  glanced  at  Rostof.  "  You  come  to  me 
after  the  review ;  we  will  do  all  that  is  in  our  power." 
And  glancing  around  the  room,  he  addressed  himself  to 
Rostof,  pretending  not  to  notice  his  state  of  childish 
confusion,  which  was  rapidly  assuming  the  form  of  ill- 
temper.     Said  he :  — 

"  I  suppose  you  were  telling  about  the  affair  at  Schon- 
graben  ?     Were  you  there  ?  " 

"  I  was  there,"  repUed  Rostof,  curtly,  as  if  he  desired 
by  his  tone  to  insult  the  aide.  Bolkonsky  noticed  the 
hussar's  state  of  mind,  and  it  seemed  to  him  amusing. 
A  slightly  scornful  smile  played  over  his  lips. 

*'Yes,  there  are  many  stories  afloat  now  about  that 
affair!" 

''  Stories,  indeed !  "  exclaimed  Rostof,  in  a  loud  voice, 
turning  his  angry  eyes  on  Boris  and  Bolkonsky.  "  Yes, 
many  stories ;  but  the  stories  we  tell  are  the  accounts 
of  those  who  were  under  the  hottest  fire  of  the  enemy. 
Our  accounts  have  some  weight,  and  are  very  different 
from  the  stories  of  those  staff-officers,  milk-suckers,  who 
win  rewards  by  doing  nothing." 

•'  Do  you  mean  to  insinuate  that  I  am  one  of  them  ? " 
VOL.  II.  —  5 


66  WAR  AND   PEACE 

asked  Prince  Andrei,  with  a  calm  and  very  pleasant 
smile. 

A  strange  feeling  of  anger  and  at  the  same  time  of 
respect  for  the  dignity  of  this  stranger  were  at  this 
moment  united  in  Rostof's  mind. 

"  I  was  not  speaking  of  you,"  said  he.  "  I  do  not 
know  you,  and  I  confess  I  have  no  desire  to  know 
you.  I  merely  made  a  general  remark  concerning  staff- 
officers." 

"  And  I  will  say  this  much  to  you,"  said  Prince  An- 
dref,  interrupting  him,  a  tone  of  calm  superiority  ringing 
in  his  voice.  "You  wish  to  insult  me,  and  I  am  ready 
to  have  a  settlement  with  you,  it  being  very  easy  to 
bring  about,  if  you  have  not  sufficient  self-respect ;  but 
you  must  agree  with  me  that  the  time  and  place  are  ex- 
ceedingly unpropitious  for  any  such  settlement.  We  are 
all  soon  to  take  part  in  a  great  and  far  more  serious 
duel,  and  moreover,  Drubetskoi  here,  who  says  that  he 
is  an  old  friend  of  yours,  cannot  be  held  accountable 
for  the  fact  that  my  face  was  unfortunate  enough  to 
displease  you.  However,"  he  went  on  to  say,  as  he 
got  up,  "  you  know  my  name,  and  you  know,  where  to 
find  me;  but  don't  forget,"  he  added,  "that  I  consider 
that  neither  I  nor  you  have  any  ground  for  feeling  in- 
sulted, and  my  advice,  as  a  man  older  than  you,  is  not 
to  let  this  matter  go  any  further.  Well,  Drubetskoi,  on 
Friday,  after  the  review,  I  shall  expect  you;  Da  Svi- 
danya!"  cried  Prince  Andref,  and  he  went  out  with  a  bow 
to  both  of  them. 

It  was  only  after  Prince  Andrei  had  left  the  room 
that  Rostof  remembered  what  reply  he  should  have 
made.  And  he  was  still  more  out  of  temper  because 
he  had  not  had  the  wit  to  say  it.  He  immediately  or- 
dered his  horse  brought  round,  and,  bidding  Boris  fare- 
well rather  dryly,  rode  off  to  his  own  camp.  "  Should 
he  go  next  day  to  headquarters  and  challenge  this  cap- 
tious aide,  or  should  he  follow  his  advice  and  leave 
things  as  they  were.?"  That  was  the  question  that 
tormented  him  all  the  way.  At  one  moment  he  angrily 
imagined  how  frightened  this  little,  feeble,  bumptious 


WAR    AND    PEACE  67 

man  would  look  when  covered  by  his  pistol ;  the  next, 
he  confessed  with  amazement,  that  of  all  the  men  whom 
he  knew,  there  was  none  whom  he  should  be  more  glad 
to  have  as  his  friend  than  this  same  aide  whom  he  de- 
tested ! 

CHAPTER   VIII 

On  the  day  following  the  meeting  of  Boris  and  Rostof 
occurred  the  review  of  the  Austrian  and  Russian  troops, 
including  those  who  had  just  arrived  from  Russia  as  well 
as  those  who  had  made  the  campaign  with  Kutuzof. 
Both  the  emperor  of  Russia,  with  the  Tsesarevitch,  and 
the  emperor  of  Austria,  with  the  archduke,  reviewed 
this  army,  aggregating  eighty  thousand  men. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  soldiers,  elegantly  spruced 
and  attired,  began  to  move,  falling  into  line  in  front  of 
the  fortress.  Here  thousands  of  legs  and  bayonets 
moved  along  with  streaming  banners,  and  at  the  com- 
mand of  their  officers  halted  or  wheeled,  or  formed  into 
detachments,  passing  by  other  similar  bodies  of  infantry, 
in  other  uniforms. 

There,  with  measured  hoof-beats  and  jingling  of  trap- 
pings, came  the  cavalry,  gayly  dressed  in  blue,  red,  and 
green  embroidered  uniforms,  with  gayly  dressed  musi- 
cians ahead,  riding  coal-black,  chestnut,  and  gray  horses. 

Yonder,  stretching  out  in  a  long  line,  with  their  pol- 
ished shining  cannon,  jolting  with  a  brazen  din  on  their 
carriages,  and  with  the  smell  of  linstocks,  came  the  ar- 
tillery between  the  infantry  and  cavalry,  and  drew  up 
in  the  places  assigned  them.  Not  only  the  generals  in 
full-dress  uniform,  with  slender  waists  or  stout  waists, 
tightened  in  to  the  last  degree,  and  with  red  necks 
tightly  clasped  by  their  collars,  and  wearing  their  scarfs 
and  all  their  orders ;  not  only  the  officers,  pomaded  and 
decked  with  all  their  glories,  but  all  the  soldiers,  with 
shining,  clean-washed,  and  freshly  shaven  faces,  with  all 
their  appurtenances  polished  up  to  the  highest  luster, 
and  all  the  horses  gayly  caparisoned,  and  groomed  so 
that  their  coats  were  as  glossy  as  satin,  and  every  in- 


68  WAR   AND    PEACE 

dividual  hair  in  their  manes  in  exactly  its  proper  place, 
had  the  consciousness  that  something  grave,  significant, 
rnd  solemn  was  taking  place.  Every  general  and  every 
soldier  felt  his  own  insignificance^  counting  himself  as 
merely  a  grain  of  sand  in  this  sea  of  humanity,  and  at 
the  same  time  felt  his  power,  when  regarded  as  a  part 
of  this  mighty  whole. 

By  means  of  strenuous  efforts  and  devoted  energy, 
the  preparations  which  had  begun  early  in  the  morning 
were  completed  by  ten  o'clock,  and  everything  was  in 
proper  order.  The  ranks  were  drawn  up  across  the 
broad  parade-ground.  The  whole  army  was  arranged 
in  three  columns ;  in  front  the  cavalry,  then  the  artil- 
lery, and  in  the  rear  the  infantry. 

Between  each  division  of  the  army  was  a  space  like  a 
street.  The  three  divisions  of  this  army  were  sharply 
contrasted  with  one  another ;  Kutuzof's  war-worn  vet- 
erans—  among  whom  on  the  right  flank  in  the  front 
row  stood  the  Pavlogradsky  hussars  —  the  troops  of  the 
Line  that  had  just  arrived  from  Russia,  and  the  regi- 
ments of  the  Guard  and  the  Austrian  army.  But  all 
stood  in  one  line  under  one  commander,  and  in  identical 
order. 

Like  the  wind  rustling  the  leaves,  a  murmur  agitated 
the  lines:  ''They  are  coming!  They  are  coming!" 
Anxious  voices  were  heard,  and  throughout  all  the  troops, 
like  a  wave,  ran  the  bustle  of  the  final  preparations. 

Far  away  in  front  of  them,  near  Olmiitz,  appeared  a 
group  coming  toward  them.  And  at  this  moment,  though 
the  day  was  calm,  a  gentle  breeze  stirred  the  army,  and 
seemed  to  shake  the  pennoned  pikes,  and  the  loosened 
standards  clinging  to  their  staffs.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
army  itself  by  this  slight  tremor  expressed  its  gladness 
at  the  approach  of  the  emperors.  One  voice  was  heard 
—  "  Smirno,  eyes  front !  "  Then,  like  the  answering  of 
cocks  at  daybreak,  many  voices  repeated  this  command 
from  point  to  point,  and  all  grew  still. 

In  the  death-like  silence  the  only  sound  heard  was 
the  trampling  of  horses'  feet.  This  was  the. suite  of  the 
emperors.     The  two  monarchs  rode  along  the  left  wing, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  St) 

and  the  bugles  of  the  First  Cavalry  Regiment  burst 
forth  with  the  general-marsch.  It  seemed  as  if  it  were 
not  the  bugles  which  played  this  march,  but  as  if  the 
army  itself,  in  its  delight  at  the  approach  of  the  emper- 
ors, emitted  these  sounds.  Their  echoes  had  not  died 
away,  when  the  Emperor  Alexander's  affable  young 
voice  was  distinctly  heard  addressing  the  men.  He 
uttered  the  usual  welcome,  and  the  first  regiment  gave 
forth  one  huzza,  so  deafening,  so  long  drawn  out  and 
expressive  of  joy,  that  the  men  themselves  were  amazed 
and  awe-struck  at  the  magnitude  and  strength  of  the 
mass  which  they  constituted  :  — 

''Hurrah!" 

Rostof,  standing  in  the  front  rank  of  Kutuzof's  army, 
which  the  emperor  first  approached,  shared  the  feeling 
experienced  by  every  man  in  that  army,  a  feeling  of 
self-forgetfulness,  a  proud  consciousness  of  invincibility 
and  of  passionate  attachment  to  him  on  whose  account 
all  this  solemn  parade  was  prepared.  He  felt  that  only 
one  word  from  this  man  was  needed  for  this  mighty  mass, 
including  himself  as  an  insignificant  grain  of  sand,  to 
dash  through  fire  and  water,  to  commit  crime,  to  face 
death,  or  perform  the  mightiest  deeds  of  heroism,  and 
therefore  he  could  not  help  trembling,  could  not  help  his 
heart  melting  within  him  at  the  sight  of  this  approaching 
Word. 

*'  Hurrah  !  Hurrah  ! .  Hurrah  !  "  was  roared  on  all 
sides,  and  one  regiment  after  another  welcomed  the  sov- 
ereigns with  the  music  of  the  general-marsch,  then  re- 
newed huzzas,  the  general-marsch  and  huzzas  on  huzzas, 
which,  growing  louder  and  louder,  mingled  in  one  over- 
powering, deafening  clamor. 

Until  the  sovereign  came  quite  close,  every  regiment 
in  its  silence  and  rigidity  seemed  like  a  lifeless  body ; 
but,  as  soon  as  the  sovereign  came  abreast  of  it,  the 
regiment  woke  to  life  and  broke  out  into  acclamations 
which  mingled  with  the  roar  extending  down  the  whole 
line  past  which  the  sovereign  rode.  Amid  the  tremen- 
dous deafening  clamor  of  these  thousands  of  voices, 
through    the    midst    of   the    armies,   standing   in    their 


70 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


squares  as  motionless  as  if  they  had  been  carved  out  of 
granite,  moved  easily,  carelessly,  but  symmetrically,  and 
above  all  with  freedom  and  grace,  the  hundreds  of 
riders  constituting  the  suites,  and  in  front  of  all  —  two 
men,  the  emperors  !  On  them,  and  on  them  alone,  were 
concentrated  the  suppressed  but  eager  attention  of  all 
that  mass  of  men. 

The  handsome  young  Emperor  Alexander  in  his 
Horse  Guards'  uniform  and  three-cornered  hat  worn  point 
forward,  with  his  pleasant  face  and  clear  but  not  loud 
voice,  was  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes. 

Rostof  stood  not  far  from  the  buglers,  and  his  keen 
glance  recognized  the  emperor  while  he  was  still  far  off, 
and  followed  him  as  he  drew  near.  When  the  sovereign 
had  approached  to  a  distance  of  twenty  paces,  and 
Nikolai  could  clearly  distinguish  every  feature  of  his 
handsome  and  radiant  young  face,  he  experienced  a 
sense  of  affection  and  enthusiasm  such  as  he  had  never 
before  felt.  Everything,  every  feature,  every  motion, 
seemed  to  him  bewitching  in  his  sovereign. 

Pausing  in  front  of  the  Pavlograd  regiment,  the  mon^ 
arch  said  something  in  French  to  the  emperor  of  Austria 
and  smiled. 

Seeing  this  smile,  Rostof  himself  involuntarily  smiled 
also,  and  felt  a  still  more  powerful  impulse  of  love  to- 
ward his  sovereign.  He  felt  a  burning  desire  to  display 
this  love  in  some  way.  He  knew  that  this  was  impossi- 
ble and  he  felt  like  weeping. 

The  sovereign  summoned  the  regimental  commander 
and  said  a  few  words  to  him, 

"  BozJie  moil  what  would  happen  to  me  if  the  sov- 
ereign were  to  address  me!"  thought  Rostof.  ''I 
should  die  of  happiness!" 

The  emperor  also  addressed  the  officers  :  — 

"Gentlemen,"  said  he.  And  Rostof  listened  as  to  a 
voice  from  heaven.  How  happy  would  he  have  been 
now  could  he  only  die  for  his  Tsar!  '*  I  thank  you  all 
from  my  heart!  You  have  won  the  standards  of  the 
George,  prove  yourselves  worthy  of  them!  " 

"Only  to  die,  to  die  for  him!"  thought  Rostof. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  71 

The  sovereign  said  a  few  words  more,  which  Rostof 
did  not  catch,  and  the  soldiers,  straining  their  throats, 
cried  "  Hurrah  !   hurrah  I  " 

Rostof  also  joined  with  them,  leaning  forward  in  his 
saddle  and  shouting  with  all  his  might,  willing  to  burst 
his  lungs  in  his  efforts  to  express  the  full  extent  of  his 
enthusiasm  for  his  sovereign. 

The  emperor  stood  a  few  seconds  in  front  of  the 
hussars  as  if  he  were  undecided. 

**  How  can  the  sovereign  be  undecided  ? "  mused 
Rostof;  but  immediately  even  this  indecision  seemed  to 
him  a  new  proof  of  majesty  and  charm,  like  everything 
else  that  the  sovereign  did. 

The  emperor's  indecision  lasted  only  a  moment.  His 
foot,  shod  in  a  narrow,  sharp-pointed  boot,  such  as 
were  worn  at  that  time,  pressed  against  the  flank 
of  the  English-groomed  bay  mare  on  which  he  sat. 
The  sovereign's  hand,  in  a  white  glove,  gathered  up 
the  reins,  and  he  rode  off,  accompanied  by  a  disorderly 
tossing  sea  of  aides. 

As  he  kept  riding  farther  and  farther  down  the  line, 
he  kept  halting  in  front  of  the  different  regiments,  and 
at  last  only  his  white  plume  could  be  seen  by  Rostof, 
distinguishing  him  from  the  suite  that  accompanied  the 
emperors. 

In  the  number  of  those  who  accompanied  the 
emperor,  he  noticed  Bolkonsky,  lazily  and  indifferently 
bestriding  his  steed.  The  yesterday  evening's  quarrel 
with  him  came  into  his  mind,  and  the  question  arose 
whether  or  no  he  ought  to  challenge  him. 

"  Of  course  it  is  out  of  the  question  now,"  thought 
Rostof.  "  Is  it  worth  while  to  think  or  to  talk  about 
such  a  thing  at  such  a  moment  as  this.?  At  a  time 
when  one  feels  such  impulses  of  love,  enthusiasm,  and 
self-renunciation,  what  consequence  are  our  petty  quar- 
rels and  provocations.''  I  love  the  whole  world,  I  for- 
give every  one  now !  "  said  Rostof  to  himself. 

After  the  sovereign  had  ridden  past  almost  all  the 
regiments,  the  troops  began  to  move  in  front  of  him  in 
the  "ceremonial  march,"  and  Rostof,  on  his  Bedouin, 


72  WAR   AND    PEACE 

which  he  had  recently  bought  of  Denisof,  rode  at  the 
end  of  his  squadron,  that  is,  alone,  and  in  a  most  con- 
spicuous position  before  his  sovereign. 

Just  before  he  came  up  to  where  the  emperor  was, 
Rostof,  who  was  an  admirable  horseman,  plunged  the 
spurs  in  Bedouin's  flanks,  and  urged  him  into  that  mad, 
frenzied  gallop  which  Bedouin  always  took  when  he 
was  excited.  Pressing  his  foaming  mouth  back  to  his 
breast,  arching  his  tail,  and  seeming  to  fly  through  the 
air,  and  spurning  the  earth,  gracefully  tossing  and  inter- 
weaving his  legs.  Bedouin,  also  conscious  that  the  em- 
peror's eyes  were  fastened  on  him,  dashed  gallantly  by. 

Rostof  himself,  keeping  his  feet  back,  and  sitting 
straight  in  his  saddle,  feeling  himself  one  with  his 
horse,  rode  by  his  sovereign  with  disturbed  but  beatific 
face,  —  "a  very  devil,"  as  Denisof  expressed  it. 

**  Bravo  !   Pavlogradsui !  "  exclaimed  the  emperor. 

^'  Bozhe  viol !  how  happy  I  should  be  if  he  would  only 
bid  me  to  dash  instantly  into  the  fire  !  "  thought  Rostof. 

When  the  review  was  ended,  the  officers  that  had 
just  come  from  Russia  and  those  of  Kutuzof's  division 
began  to  gather  in  groups  and  talk  about  the  rewards 
of  the  campaign,  about  the  Austrians  and  their  uni- 
forms, about  their  Hne  of  battle,  about  Bonaparte,  and 
what  a  desperate  position  he  had  got  himself  into  now, 
especially  if  Essen's  corps  should  join  them,  and  Prussia 
should  take  their  side. 

But  more  than  all  else  in  each  of  these  circles,  the 
conversation  ran  on  the  sovereign  Alexander,  and  every 
word  that  he  had  spoken  was  repeated,  and  everything 
that  he  had  done  was  praised,  and  all  w^ere  enthusiastic 
over  him. 

All  had  but  one  single  expectation :  under  the  personal 
direction  of  the  sovereign,  to  go  with  all  speed  against 
the  enemy.  Under  the  command  of  the  emperor  him- 
self, it  would  be  an  impossibility  not  to  wdn  the  victory 
over  any  one  in  the  world :  so  thought  Rostof  and  the 
majority  of  the  officers. 

After  this  review,  all  were  more  assured  of  victory  than 
they  could  have  been  after  the  gaining  of  two  battles. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  73 


CHAPTER  IX 

On  the  day  following  the  review,  Boris,  dressed  in 
his  best  uniform,  and  accompanied  by  the  wishes  of  his 
comrade,  Berg,  for  his  success,  rode  off  to  Olmiitz  to 
find  Bolkonsky,  anxious  to  take  advantage  of  his  good- 
will and  secure  a  most  brilliant  position,  especially  the 
position  of  aide  to  some  important  personage,  as  this 
seemed  to  him  the  most  attractive  branch  of  the  ser- 
vice. 

**  It 's  fine  for  Rostof,  whose  father  sends  him  ten 
thousand  at  a  time,  to  argue  that  he  would  not  accept 
favors  of  any  one,  or  be  any  one's  lackey  ;  but  I,  who 
have  nothing  except  my  brains,  must  pursue  my  career 
and  not  miss  opportunities,  but  take  advantage  of 
them." 

He  did  not  find  Prince  Andrei  in  Olmiitz  that  day. 
But  the  sight  of  the  town  where  the  imperial  headquar- 
ters were  situated,  where  the  diplomatic  corps  were 
established,  and  both  emperors  were  quartered  with 
their  suites,  and  courtiers,  and  intimates,  only  inspired 
the  more  desire  in  the  young  man's  heart  to  belong  to 
this  exalted  world. 

He  had  no  acquaintances,  and,  notwithstanding  his 
elegant  uniform  of  the  Guards,  all  these  superior  people 
crowding  the  streets  in  handsome  equipages,  plumes, 
ribbons,  and  orders,  these  courtiers  and  warriors,  seemed 
to  stand  so  immeasurably  above  him  that  not  only  they 
would  not  but  moreover  they  could  not  recognize  the 
existence  of  such  an  insignificant  officer  of  the  Guards 
as  he  was.  At  the  establishment  of  the  commander-in- 
chief,  Kutuzof,  where  he  inquired  for  Bolkonsky,  all  the 
aides,  and  even  the  servants,  looked  at  him  as  if  it  were 
their  wish  to  inspire  him  with  the  idea  that  there  was  a 
great  abundance  of  officers  like  him  there,  and  that  all 
were  very  much  annoyed  by  their  presence. 

In  spite  of  this,  or  rather  in  direct  consequence  of 
this,  on  the  very  next  day,  the  twenty-seventh,  im- 
mediately after  dinner,  he  went  to  Olmutz  again,  and 


74  WAR    AND    PEACE 

going  to  the  house  occupied  by  Kutuzof,  inquired  for 
Bolkonsky. 

Prince  Andrei'  was  at  home,  and  Bon's  was  ushered 
into  a  great  drawing-room,  where  probably  in  times  gone 
by  balls  had  been  given,  but  which  was  now  occupied 
by  five  beds,  and  a  heterogeneous  medley  of  furniture, 
tables,  chairs,  and  a  clavichord.  An  aide,  in  a  Persian 
khalat,  was  sitting  at  a  table  near  the  door  and  writ- 
ing. Another,  the  stout  handsome  Nesvitsky,  lay  on  his 
bed  with  his  hands  supporting  his  head,  and  laughing 
and  talking  with  an  officer  who  was  sitting  near  him. 
A  third  was  at  the  clavichord  playing  a  Viennese  waltz ; 
a  fourth  leaned  on  the  clavichord  and  was  humming  the 
air. 

Bolkonsky  was  not  in  the  room.  Not  one  of  these 
gentlemen,  though  they  glanced  at  Bon's,  paid  him  the 
slightest  attention.  The  one  who  was  writing,  and  whom 
Bon's  ventured  to  address,  turned  round  with  an  air  of 
annoyance  and  told  him  that  Bolkonsky  was  on  duty, 
and  that  he  would  find  him  by  passing  through  the  door 
on  the  left,  and  going  to  the  reception-room  if  he  wanted 
to  see  him.  Bon's  thanked  him  and  went  to  the  recep- 
tion-room. He  found  there  ten  or  a  dozen  generals  and 
other  officers. 

At  the  moment  that  Bon's  came  in,  Prince  Andrei", 
with  a  contemptuous  frown  on  his  face  and  that  pecu- 
liar look  of  well-bred  weariness  which  says  louder  than 
words  that  "  if  it  were  not  my  duty,  I  should  not  think 
of  wasting  any  more  time  talking  with  you,"  was  listen- 
ing to  an  old  Russian  general  with  orders  on  his  breast, 
who  was  standing  upright,  almost  on  his  tiptoes,  and, 
with  the  servile  expression  characteristic  of  the  military 
on  his  purple  face,  was  laying  his  case  before  Prince 
Andrei. 

''Very  good,  be  kind  enough  to  have  patience,"  he 
was  saying  to  the  general  in  Russian,  but  with  that 
French  accent  which  he  affected  when  he  wished  to 
speak  rather  scornfully  ;  then,  catching  sight  of  Bon's, 
and  making  no  further  reply  to  the  general,  who  hast- 
ened after  him  with  his  petition,  begging  him  to  let  him 


WAR   AND    PEACE  75 

say  just  one  thing  more,  Prince  Andrei  with  a  radiant 
smile  and  waving  his  hand  to  him  went  to  meet  Bon's. 

Bon's  at  this  instant  clearly  understood  what  he  had 
suspected  before,  that  in  the  army  there  was,  above  and 
beyond  the  subordination  and  discipline  taught  by  the 
code,  and  which  they  in  ihe  regiments  knew  by  heart, 
and  which  he  knew  as  well  as  any  one  else,  —  there 
was  another  still  more  essential  form  of  subordination, 
one  which  .compelled  this  anxious  general  with  the 
purple  face  respectfully  to  wait,  while  Captain  Prince 
Andrei,  for  his  own  satisfaction,  found  it  more  interest- 
ing to  talk  with  Ensign  Drubetskoi".  More  than  ever 
Bon's  decided  henceforth  not  to  act  in  accordance  with 
the  written  law,  but  with  this  unwritten  code.  He  now 
felt  that  merely  through  the  fact  of  having  been  sent  to 
Prince  Andrei  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  he  was 
allowed  to  take  precedence  of  this  old  general,  who  in 
other  circumstances,  at  the  front,  for  instance,  might 
utterly  humiliate  him  —  a  mere  ensign  of  the  Guards. 

Prince  Andrei  came  to  meet  him  and  took  him  by  the 
hand. 

"  Very  sorry  that  you  missed  me  yesterday.  I  spent 
the  whole  day  with  the  Germans.  Weirother  and  I 
went  to  inspect  the  disposition  of  the  troops.  What  fel- 
lows these  Germans  are  for  accuracy ;  there  's  no  end 
to  it!" 

Boris  smiled  exactly  as  if  he  understood  to  what 
Prince  Andrei  referred.  He  affected  to  see  in  it  a  piece 
of  generally  known  information,  but  really  this  was  the 
first  time  that  he  had  heard  Weirother's  name,  and  even 
the  word  dispozitsiya. 

"  Well,  now,  my  dear,  so  you  would  like  to  become  an 
aide,  would  you }     I  was  just  thinking  about  you." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Bon's,  in  spite  of  himself,  reddening 
at  the  very  thought,  *'  I  was  thinking  of  calling  on  the 
commander-in-chief;  he  has  had  a  letter  in  regard  to 
me  from  Prince  Kuragin  ;  I  wanted  to  ask  it,"  he  added, 
as  if  by  way  of  apology,  ''  because  I  was  afraid  the 
Guards  would  not  take  part  in  any  action." 

"Very  good,  very  good!     We  will  talk  it  all  over,' 


7<5  WAR   AND    PEACE 

said  Prince  Andref.     "  Only  let  me  finish  up  this  gentle- 
man's  business  and  I  will  be  at  your  service." 

While  Prince  Andrei  went  to  report  on  the  business 
of  the  purple-faced  general,  this  general,  evidently  not 
sharing  Boris's  comprehension  in  regard  to  the  advan- 
tages of  the  unwritten  code,  glared  so  fiercely  at  the 
audacious  young  ensign  who  had  interrupted  his  con- 
versation with  the  aide,  that  Boris  grew  uncomfortable. 
He  turned  away  and  waited  impatiently  for  Prince 
Andrei's  return  from  the  commander-in-chief's  private 
room. 

•'  Well,  my  dear  fellow,  as  I  said,  I  was  just  thinkini,^ 
of  you,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  as  they  went  into  the  biij 
room  where  the  clavichord  was.  **  There  is  no  use  in 
your  going  to  call  on  the  commander-in-chief,"  he  went 
on  to  say  ;  '*  he  will  make  you  pleasant  enough  speeches, 
he  will  have  you  invited  to  dinner,"  (''That  would  not 
be  so  bad  according  to  this  other  code,"  thought  Bon's, 
in  Ms  own  mind),  "but  nothing  more  would  come  of  it; 
if  it  did,  there  would  soon  be  a  whole  battalion  of  us 
aides  and  orderlies.  But  I  tell  you  what  we  '11  do ;  I 
have  a  good  friend,  who  is  general  adjutant,  and  a  splen^ 
did  man,  Prince  Dolgorukof ,  —  and  perhaps  you  may 
not  know  this,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  just  now  Kutuzof 
and  his  staff  and  all  of  us  are  of  mighty  little  conse- 
quence ;  everything  at  the  present  time  is  centered  on 
the  emperor,  —  so  let  us  go  to  Dolgorukof ;  I  have  an 
errand  to  him  anyway,  and  I  have  already  spoken  to 
him  of  you,  so  we  will  see  whether  he  can't  find  the 
means  of  giving  you  a  place  on  his  own  staff,  or  some- 
where even  nearer  to  the  sun." 

Prince  Andrei  always  showed  great  energy  when  he 
bad  the  chance  to  lend  a  young  man  a  hand  and  help 
him  to  worldly  success.  Under  cover  of  the  assistance 
granted  another,  and  which  he  would  have  been  too 
proud  to  accept  for  himself,  he  came  within  the  charmed 
circle  which  was  the  source  of  success,  and  in  reality  a 
powerful  attraction  for  him.  He  very  readily  took  Bon's 
under  his  wing  and  went  with  him  to  Prince  Dolgorukof. 

It  was  already  quite  late  in  the  afternoon  when  they 


WAR   AND    PEACE  77 

reached  the  palace  of  Olmiitz,  occupied  by  the  emperors 
and  their  immediate  followers. 

On  this  very  day  there  had  been  a  council  of  war  in 
which  all  the  members  of  the  Hofkriegsrath  and  the 
two  emperors  had  taken  part.  In  the  council  it  had 
been  decided,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  the  old  generals, 
Kutuzof  and  Schwartzenberg,  to  act  immediately  on  the 
offensive  and  offer  Bonaparte  general  battle. 

The  council  had  only  just  adjourned  when  Prince 
Andrei,  accompanied  by  Bon's,  entered  the  palace  in 
search  of  Prince  Dolgorukof.  Already  the  magic  im- 
pression of  this  war  council,  which  had  resulted  in  vic- 
tory for  the  younger  party,  could  be  seen  in  the  faces 
of  all  whom  they  met  at  headquarters.  The  voices  of 
the  temporizers  who  advised  further  postponement  of 
the  attack  had  been  so  unanimously  drowned  out  and 
their  arguments  confuted  by  such  indubitable  proofs 
of  the  advantage  of  immediate  attack,  that  the  subject  of 
their  deliberations  —  that  is,  the  impending  engagement 
and  the  victory  which  would  doubtless  result  from  it  — 
seemed  to  be  a  thing  of  the  past  rather  than  of  the 
future. 

All  the  advantages  were  on  our  side.  The  enormous 
forces  of  the  allies,  doubtless  far  outnumbering  Napo- 
leon's forces,  were  concentrated  at  one  point ;  the 
armies  were  inspired  by  the  presence  of  the  emperors, 
and  eager  for  action  ;  the  ''  strategical  point "  where  the 
battle  was  to  be  fought  was  known,  in  its  minutest  de- 
tails, to  the  Austrian  General  Weirother  who  would  take 
the  direction  of  the  army ;  it  happened  also,  by  a  fortu- 
nate coincidence,  that  the  Austrian  army  had  manoeuvered 
the  previous  year  on  these  very  plans  where  now  it  was 
proposed  that  they  should  meet  the  French  in  battle  ;  all 
the  features  of  the  ground  were  well  known  and  accu- 
rately delineated  on  the  maps,  and  Bonaparte,  evidently 
weakened,  was  making  no  preparations  to  meet  them. 

Dolgorukof,  one  of  the  most  fiery  partisans  in  favor 
of  immediate  attack,  had  only  just  returned  from  the 
council,  weary  and  jaded,  but  full  of  excitement  and 
proud  of  the  victory  won.     Prince   Andrei   introduced 


78  WAR   AND    PEACE 

the  young  officer,  whom  he  had  taken  under  his  pro- 
tection, but  Prince  Dolgorukof,  though  he  politely  and 
even  warmly  pressed  his  hand,  said  nothing  to  him,  and 
being  evidently  unable  to  refrain  from  expressing  the 
thoughts  that  occupied  him  at  this  time  to  the  exclusion 
of  everything  else,  turned  to  Prince  Andrei  and  said  in 
French  :  — 

**  Well,  my  dear  fellow,  what  a  struggle  we  've  been 
having !  May  God  only  grant  that  the  one  which  will 
result  from  it  will  be  no  less  victorious  !  One  thing,  my 
dear  fellow,"  said  he,  speaking  eagerly  and  brusquely, 
"  I  must  confess  my  injustice  to  these  Austrians,  and 
especially  to  Weirother !  What  exactness  and  care  for 
minutiae!  what  accurate  knowledge  of  the  localities!  what 
foresight  for  contingencies !  what  thoughts  for  all  the 
minutest  details !  No,  my  friend,  nothing  more  advan- 
tageous than  the  condition  in  which  we  find  ourselves 
could  possibly  be  imagined.  Austrian  accuracy  and 
Russian  valor  combined  !  What  more  could  you  de- 
sire ?  " 

**  So  an  engagement  has  been  actually  determined 
on  ?  "  asked  Bolkonsky. 

"  And  do  you  know,  my  dear,  it  seems  to  me  that; 
really  Bonaparte  '  has  lost  his  Latin.'  Did  you  know  a 
letter  was  received  from  him  to-day  addressed  to  the 
emperor  .?  " 

Dolgorukof  smiled  significantly. 

"  What 's  that  ?    What  did  he  write .?  "  asked  Bolkonsky. 

"  What  could  he  write  ?  Tradiridira  and  so  forth, 
merely  for  the  sake  of  gaining  time  ;  that 's  all.  I  tell 
you,  he  's  right  in  our  hands  ;  that 's  certain  !  But  the 
most  amusing  thing  of  all,"  said  he,  with  a  good-natured 
smile,  "  was  this,  that  no  one  could  think  how  it  was 
best  to  address  the  reply  to  him  !  Not  as  '  consul '  and 
still  less  as  emperor,  of  course  ;  I  supposed  it  would  be 
to  General  Bonaparte." 

''  But  there  is  considerable  difference  between  not 
recognizing  him  as  emperor  and  addressing  him  as 
General  Bonaparte,"  said  Bolkonsky. 

"That 's  the  very  point,"  said  Dolgorukof,  interrupt 


WAR   AND    PEACE  79 

ing  him  with  a  laugh,  and  speaking  rapidly.  "You 
know  Bilibin  —  he  's  a  very  clever  man  —  he  proposed 
to  address  him  as  'Usurper  and  Enemy  of  the  Human 
Race.'" 

Dolgorukof  broke  into  a  hearty  peal  of  laughter. 

"  Was  that  all  ?  "  remarked  Bolkonsky. 

"  But  in  the  end  it  was  Bilibin  who  invented  a  serious 
title  for  the  address.     He  's  a  shrewd  and  clever  man  !  " 

"What  was  it.?" 

"'Head  of  the  French  Government,'  —  an  chef  dn 
goiLverne7ne7tt  fran^ais^'  replied  Prince  Dolgorukof, 
gravely,  and  with  satisfaction.  "  Say,  now,  was  n't  that 
good  } " 

"Very  good,  but  it  won't  please  him  much,"  replied 
Bolkonsky. 

"  Oh,  not  at  all !  My  brother  knows  him ;  he  's 
dined  with  him  more  than  once,  —  with  the  present 
emperor  at  Paris,  and  told  me  that  he  never  saw  a  more 
refined  and  cunning  diplomat!  French ^«^.s-.y^  combined 
with  Italian  astuteness,  you  know !  You  've  heard  the 
anecdotes  about  him  and  Count  Markof,  have  n't  you  .? 
Count  Markof  was  the  only  man  who  could  meet  him 
on  his  own  ground.  You  know  the  story  of  the  hand- 
kerchief .''     It 's  charming  !  " 

And  the  loquacious  Dolgorukof,  turning  now  to  Boris, 
now  to  Prince  Andrei,  told  how  Bonaparte,  wishing  to 
test  Markof,  our  ambassador,  purposely  dropped  his 
handkerchief  in  front  of  him  and  stood  looking  at  him, 
apparently  expecting  Markof  to  hand  it  to  him,  and 
how  Markof  instantly  dropped  his  handkerchief  beside 
Bonaparte's  and  stooping  down  picked  it  up,  leaving 
Bonaparte's  where  it  lay. 

'^  Charmant  ! ''  exclaimed  Bolkonsky.  "But  prince,  I 
have  come  as  a  petitioner  in  behalf  of  this  young  man 
here.  Do  you  know  whether" — but  before  Prince 
Andrei"  had  time  to  finish,  an  adjutant  came  into  the 
room  with  a  summons  for  Prince  Dolgorukof  to  go  to 
the  emperor. 

"  Akh !  what  a  nuisance !  "  exclaimed  Dolgorukof^ 
hurriedly  rising  and  shaking  hands  with  Prince  Andre! 


8o  WAR    AND    PEACE 

and  Boris.  "  You  know  I  should  be  very  glad  to  do  all 
in  my  power  either  for  you  or  for  this  charming  young 
man.''  Once  more  he  pressed  Boris's  hand  with  an  ex- 
pression of  good-natured  frankness  and  mercurial  heed- 
lessness.    "  But  we  '11  see  about  it See  you  another 

time  !  " 

Boris  was  greatly  excited  by  the  thought  of  being  so 
near  to  such  exalted  powers.  He  felt  that  here  he  was 
almost  in  contact  with  the  springs  which  set  in  motion 
all  these  enormous  masses  of  which  he  and  his  regiment 
appeared  to  be  a  small,  humble,  and  insignificant  part. 

They  followed  Prince  Dolgorukof  into  the  corridor. 
Just  then,  from  out  the  door  leading  into  the  sovereign's 
apartments,  through  which  Dolgorukof  was  going,  came 
a  short  individual  in  civil  attire,  with  an  intellectual  face 
and  a  strongly  pronounced  and  prominent  lower  jaw, 
which  without  disfiguring  him  lent  especial  energy  and 
mobility  to  his  expression.  This  short  man  nodded  to 
Dolgorukof  as  to  a  friend,  and  c.%me  along  straight  toward 
Prince  Andrei  with  a  fixed  cold  stare,  evidently  expect- 
ing him  to  make  a  bow,  or  to  stand  out  of  the  way  for 
him.  Prince  Andrei  did  neither;  a  wrathful  expres- 
sion came  into  his  face,  and  the  young  man,  turning 
about,  went  down  the  corridor  in  the  other  direction. 

"Who  was  that.?  "  asked  Boris. 

"That  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable,  and  to  me 
most  detestable,  of  men,  —  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs. 
Prince  Adam  Czartorisky.  Those  are  the  men,"  said 
Bolkonsky,  with  a  sigh  which  he  could  not  stifle,  as 
they  left  the  palace,  "  those  are  the  men  that  decide  the 
fate  of  nations." 

On  the  next  day  the  armies  were  set  in  motion,  and 
Boris  had  no  opportunities,  until  the  battle  of  Austerlitz 
itself,  to  meet  either  Prince  Bolkonsky  or  Dolgorukof, 
and  remained  for  the  time  being  in  the  Izmailovsky 
regiment. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  8i 


CHAPTER   X 


At  dawn,  on  the  twenty-eighth,  Denisof  s  squadron, 
in  which  Nikolai  Rostof  served,  and  which  belonged  to 
Prince  Bagration's  division,  marched  out  from  its  biv- 
ouac to  battle,  as  it  was  said,  aiid  after  proceeding 
about  a  verst,  behind  the  other  columns,  was  halted  on 
the  highway. 

Rostof  saw  the  Cossacks  riding  forward  past  them ; 
then  the  first  and  second  squadron  of  hussars,  and  bat- 
talions of  infantry  and  artillery  ;  and  then  the  generals, 
Bagration  and  Dolgorukof,  and  their  adjutants  also  rode 

All  the  fear  which,  just  as  at  the  previous  battles,  he 
had  experienced  before  the  action,  all  the  internal  conflict, 
by  means  of  which  he  had  overcome  this  fear,  all  his 
dreams  of  how  he  would  distinguish  himself,  hussar 
fashion,  in  this  action  were  wasted.  Their  squadron 
were  stationed  in  the  reserve,  and  Nikolai  Rostof  spent 
that  day  bored  and  anxious. 

About  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  heard  at  the 
front  the  sounds  of  musketry  firing,  huzzas,  and  shout- 
ing; he  saw  some  wounded  men  carried  to  the  rear 
(there  were  not  many  of  them),  and  at  last  he  beheld  a 
whole  division  of  French  cavalrymen  conducted  by  in 
charge  of  a  sotnya  of  Cossacks.  Evidently,  the  action 
was  at  an  end,  and  though  it  appeared  to  have  been 
of  small  magnitude,  it  was  attended  with  success.  The 
soldiers  and  the  officers,  as  they  returned,  narrated  the 
story  of  their  brilliant  victory,  resulting  in  the  occupa- 
tion of  the  city  of  Wischau  and  the  capture  of  a  whole 
squadron  of  the  French. 

The  day  was  clear  and  sunny,  after  the  nippmg  frost 
of  the  night  before,  and  the  joyful  brilliancy  of  an  au- 
tumn day  seemed  to  harmonize  with  the  news  of  the 
victory,  which  was  confirmed  not  only  by  the  narratives 
of  those  who  had  taken  part  in  it,  but  still  more  by  the 
enthusiastic  faces  of  the  soldiers,  officers,  generals,  and 
adjutants,   passing   this  way   and   that   before    Rostof, 

VOL.  II.  —  6 


82  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Nikolai's  heart  was  the  heavier  for  having  suffered  to 
no  purpose  all  the  pangs  of  fear  anticipatory  of  the 
JDattle,  and  then  being  obliged  to  spend  this  glorious  day 
in  inaction. 

"  Wostof,  come  here  !  Let  us  dwown  our  sow'ow  in 
dwink!  "  cried  Denisof,  seated  on  the  edge  of  the  road, 
with  a  flask  and  lunch  spread  before  him.  The  officers 
gathered  in  a  circle  around  Denisof's  bottle-case,  eating 
their  lunch  and  chatting. 

*'  Here  they  come,  bringing  another!  "  exclaimed  one 
of  the  officers,  pointing  to  a  French  dragoon  who  had 
been  made  prisoner  and  was  walking  along  under  guard 
of  two  Cossacks.  One  of  them  was  leading  by  the  bri- 
dle a  large,  handsome  French-  horse  which  had  been 
taken  from  the  prisoner. 

"Sell  us  the  horse.?"  cried  Denisof  to  the  Cos- 
sack. 

"  Certainly,  your  nobility." 

The  officers  sprang  up  and  crowded  around  the  Cos- 
sacks and  the  prisoner.  The  French  dragoon  was  a 
young  Alsatian,  speaking  French  with  a  German  accent. 
He  was  quite  out  of  breath  with  emotion ;  his  face  was 
crimson.  Hearing  the  officers  talking  French,  he  began 
to  speak  with  them  eagerly,  turning  to  one  and  another 
of  them.  He  told  them  that  he  ought  not  to  have  been 
taken,  and  that  it  was  not  his  fault  he  was  taken,  but 
the  fault  of  le  caporal,  who  had  sent  him  to  get  some 
caparisons,  and  that  he  told  him  the  Russians  were 
already  there.  And  at  the  end  of  every  sentence,  he 
added  :^^"  But  don't  let  any  harm  come  to  my  little 
horse !  "  at  the  same  time  patting  his  coat. 

It  was  evident  that  he  didn't  understand  very  well 
what  had  happened  to  him.  Now  he  apologized  for 
having  been  captured,  then,  as  if  he  imagined  himself 
in  the  presence  of  his  own  superiors,  he  vaunted  his 
strict  attention  to  the  duties  of  a  soldier  and  his  zeal  in 
the  service.  He  brought  with  him  to  our  rear-guard  in 
all  its  freshness  the  very  atmosphere  of  the  French 
army,  which  was  so  foreign  to  our  men. 

The  Cossacks  sold  the  horse  for  two  ducats,  and  Ros- 


WAR  AND   PEACE  83 

tof,  who  was  just  now  possessed  of  money  in  plenty,  and 
was  the  richest  of  the  officers,  bought  it. 

"  But  don't  let  any  harm  come  to  my  little  horse  !  " 
said  the  Alsatian,  good-naturedly,  to  Rostof,  when  the 
horse  was  handed  over  to  the  hussar, 

Rostof,  with  a  smile,  reassured  the  dragoon,  and  gave 
him  some  money. 

'' Allee !  allee !''  said  the  Cossack,  attempting  to 
speak  in  French,  and  touching  the  prisoner's  arm  to 
make  him  move  on. 

"  Gosudar !  gosiidar !  —  the  emperor!  the  emperor!  " 
was  suddenly  heard  among  the  hussars.  All  was  hurry 
and  confusion  as  the  officers  scattered,  and  Rostof  dis- 
tinguished down  the  road  a  number  of  horsemen  with 
white  plumes  in  their  hats  riding  toward  them.  In  a 
moment's  time,  all  were  in  their  places  and  wait- 
ing. 

Rostof  did  not  remember  and  had  no  consciousness 
of  how  he  got  to  his  place  and  mounted  his  horse.  In- 
stantly his  disappointment  at  not  being  present  at  the 
skirmish,  the  mutinous  frame  of  mind  that  he  had  felt 
during  the  hours  of  inaction,  passed  away;  every  thought 
about  himself  instantly  vanished;  he  was  perfectly  ab- 
sorbed in  the  sense  of  happiness  arising  from  the  prox- 
imity of  his  sovereign  !  He  felt  himself  compensated 
by  the  mere  fact  of  his  presence  for  all  the  loss  of  the 
day.  He  was  as  happy  as  a  lover,  in  expectation  of  the 
wished-for  meeting !  Not  daring  to  look  down  the  line, 
and  not  glancing  around,  he  felt  his  approach  by  a 
sense  of  rapture.  And  he  felt  this,  not  alone  by  the 
mere  trampHng  of  the  horses'  hoofs  as  the  cavalcade 
rode  along,  but  he  felt  it  because  in  proportion  as  they 
drew  near  everything  around  him  grew  brighter,  more 
radiant  with  joy,  more  impressive  and  festive.  Nearer 
and  nearer  came  what  was  the  sun  for  Rostof,  scatter- 
ing rays  of  blissful  and  majestic  light,  and  now  at  last 
he  realized  that  he  was  enveloped  by  these  rays ;  he 
heard  his  voice,  that  affable,  serene,  majestic,  and  at  the 
same  time  utterly  unaffected  voice.  A  dead  silence  en- 
sued, just  as  Rostof  felt  ought  to  be  the  case,  and  this 


84  WAR    AND    PEACE 

silence  was  broken  by  the  sound  of  his  sovereign's 
voice :  — 

"The  Pavlograd  hussars?"  he  asked  in  French. 

"The  reserves,  your  majesty,"  replied  some  other 
voice,  a  merely  human  voice,  after  the  superhuman 
voice  which  had  asked  if  they  were  the  Pavlograd 
hussars. 

The  emperor  came  up  near  where  Rostof  was  and 
reined  in  his  horse.  Alexander's  face  was  still  more 
beautiful  than  it  had  been  three  days  before  at  the  time 
of  the  parade.  It  fairly  beamed  with  delight  and 
youthful  spirits,  —  such  innocently  youthful  spirits  that 
it  reminded  one  of  the  sportiveness  of  a  fourteen-year- 
old  lad ;  and  yet,  nevertheless,  it  was  the  face  of  a 
majestic  emperor!  Chancing  to  glance  down  the 
squadron,  the  sovereign's  eyes  met  Rostof's  and  for 
upward  of  two  seconds  gazed  into  them.  Maybe  the 
sovereign  read  what  was  passing  in  Rostof's  soul ;  it 
certainly  seemed  to  Rostof  that  he  must  know  it ;  at  all 
events,  he  fixed  his  blue  eyes  for  the  space  of  two  sec- 
onds on  Rostof's  face.  A  sweet  and  gentle  light  seemed 
to  emanate  from  them.  Then  suddenly  his  eyebrows 
contracted,  and  with  a  brusque  movement  of  his  left 
foot  he  spurred  his  horse  and  galloped  forward. 

The  young  emperor  could  not  restrain  his  desire  to 
be  present  at  the  battle,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  objections 
of  his  courtiers,  he  managed  about  twelve  o'clock  to 
leave  the  third  column,  under  whose  escort  he  had  been 
moving,  and  spurred  off  to  the  front.  But  before  he 
reached  the  hussars  he  was  met  by  some  of  his  aides 
with  the  report  of  the  happy  issue  of  the  skirmish. 

The  engagement,  which  was  merely  the  capture  of  a 
squadron  of  the  French,  was  represented  as  a  brilliant 
victory,  and  consequently  the  sovereign  and  the  whole 
army  after  this,  and  especially  before  the  smoke  had 
cleared  away  from  the  field  of  battle,  were  firmly  con- 
vinced that  the  French  were  conquered  and  were  in  full 
retreat. 

A  few  minutes  after  the  passing  of  the  sovereign,  the 
division  of  the  Pavlograd  hussars  were  ordered  to  ad- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  85 

vance.  In  the  little  German  town  of  Wischau,  Rostof 
saw  the  emperor  yet  a  second  time.  In  the  town  square, 
where,  just  before  the  sovereign's  arrival,  there  had  been 
a  pretty  lively  interchange  of  shots,  still  lay  a  number 
of  men,  killed  and  wounded,  whom  they  had  not  as  yet 
had  time  to  remove. 

The  sovereign,  surrounded  by  his  suite  of  military  and 
civil  attendants,  and  riding  a  chestnut  mare,  groomed  in 
English  style,  though  not  the  same  one  which  he  had 
ridden  at  the  parade,  leaning  over  and  gracefully  hold- 
ing a  gold  lorgnette  to  his  eye,  was  looking  at  a  soldier 
stretched  out  on  the  ground,  without  his  shako,  and  with 
his  head  all  covered  with  blood. 

The  soldier  was  so  filthy,  rough,  and  disgusting  that 
Rostof  was  quite  affronted  that  he  should  be  so  near 
his  majesty.  Rostof  saw  how  the  sovereign's  stooping 
shoulders  contracted,  as  if  a  chill  ran  down  his  back, 
and  how  his  left  heel  convulsively  pressed  the  spur  into 
the  horse's  side,  and  how  the  admirably  trained  animal 
looked  around  good-naturedly,  and  did  not  stir  from  his 
place. 

An  adjutant  dismounted,  and  taking  the  soldier  under 
the  arm  assisted  to  lift  him  to  a  stretcher  which  had 
just  been  brought. 

The  soldier  groaned. 

**  Gently,  gently !  can't  you  lift  him  more  gently !  " 
exclaimed  the  sovereign,  apparently  suffering  more 
keenly  than  the  dying  soldier,  and  he  rode  away. 

Rostof  saw  the  tears  that  filled  his  monarch's  eyes, 
and  heard  him  say  in  French  to  Czartorisky  as  he  rode 
away  :  — 

*'  What  a  terrible  thing  war  is,  what  a  terrible  thing ! 
—  Quelle  terrible  chose  que  la  gtierre  !  " 

The  vanguard  had  been  stationed  in  front  of  Wischau, 
in  sight  of  the  enemy's  pickets,  who  had  abandoned  to 
the  Russians  the  place  after  desultory  firing  that  had 
lasted  all  day.  The  vanguard  had  been  personally  con- 
gratulated and  thanked  by  the  emperor,  rewards  had 
been  promised,  and  a  double  portion  of  vodka  had  been 
dealt  out  to  the  men.     The  bivouac  fires  crackled  even 


86  WAR    AND    PEACE 

more  merrily  than  the  night  before,  and  the  soldiers* 
songs  rang  out  with  still  greater  gusto. 

Denisof  that  night  gave  a  supper  in  honor  of  his  pro- 
motion as  major,  and  Rostof,  who  had  already  taken  his 
share  of  wine,  at  the  end  of  the  merrymaking  proposed 
a  toast  to  the  sovereign's  health  :  — 

''Not  the  sovereign  emperor,  the  gosudar-wtperator, 
as  he  is  called  in  official  circles,"  said  he,  "but  the  health 
of  the  sovereign,  as  a  kind-hearted,  lovable,  and  great 
man,  —  let  us  drink  to  his  health,  and  to  our  probable 
victory  over  the  French.  If  we  fought  well  before,"  he 
went  on  to  say,  "  and  gave  no  quarter  to  the  French  at 
Schongraben,  will  not  this  be  the  case  now  when  he 
himself  leads  us }  We  will  all  die,  gladly  die  for  him  ! 
Is  n't  that  so,  gentlemen .?  Perhaps  I  do  not  express 
myself  very  well,  for  I  have  been  drinking  a  good  deal, 
but  that 's  what  I  feel,  and  so  do  you  all !  To  the  health 
of  Alexander  the  First !     Hurrah  !  " 

"Hurrah!  hurrah!"  rang  the  hearty  voices  of  the 
officers.  And  the  old  Captain  Kirsten  shouted  just  as 
heartily  and  no  less  sincerely  than  the  twenty-year-old 
Rostof. 

When  the  officers  had  drunk  the  toast  and  broken 
their  glasses,  Kirsten  got  a  fresh  one  and  filled  it,  and 
in  his  shirt-sleeves  and  riding-trousers,  with  the  glass  in 
his  hand,  went  to  the  camp-fire  of  some  of  the  soldiers, 
and  assuming  a  majestic  pose,  waving  his  hand  over  his 
head,  stood  with  his  long  gray  mustache  and  white 
chest  visible  under  his  unbuttoned  shirt,  in  the  fire- 
light. 

"  Boys !  to  the  health  of  the  sovereign  emperor,  to 
victory  over  our  enemies !  Hurrah !  "  he  cried  in  his 
youthful-old  hussar's  baritone. 

The  hussars  crowded  around,  and  answered  in  friendly 
wise  with  a  tremendous  shout. 

Late  that  night,  when  all  had  separated,  Denisof 
laid  his  stubby  hand  on  his  favorite  Rostof 's  shoulder  :  — 

"  In  the  field,  no  woom  for  love  affairs,  when  one's 
so  much  in  love  with  the  Tsar !  "  said  he, 

**  Denisof !    don't  jest  on  this  subject !  "    cried   Ros- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  87 

tof.  "  This  is  such  an  exalted,  such  a  noble  feeling, 
that...." 

"  I  agwee  with  you,  I  agwee  with  you,  my  fwiend, 
I  understand,  I  appwove...." 

''  No,  you  can't  understand  it !  " 

And  Rostof  got  up  and  began  to  wander  among  the 
watch-fires,  and  dreamed  of  what  bliss  it  would  be  to 
die  —  as  to  losing  his  life,  he  did  not  dare  to  think  of 
that !  —  but  simply  to  die  in  the  presence  of  his  sov- 
ereign. He  was  really  in  love,  not  only  with  the  Tsar, 
but  also  with  the  glory  of  the  Russian  arms  and  the 
hope  of  impending  victory.  And  he  was  not  the  only 
one  who  experienced  this  feeling  on  the  memorable 
days  that  preceded  the  battle  of  Austerlitz :  nine-tenths 
of  the  men  composing  the  Russian  army  were  at  that 
time  in  love,  though  perhaps  less  ecstatically^  with  their 
Tsar  and  the  glory  of  the  Russian  arms. 


CHAPTER   XI 

On  the  following  day,  the  sovereign  remained  in  Wis- 
chau.  His  body  physician  Villiers  was  several  times 
called  to  see  him,  and  not  only  at  headquarters,  but  in 
the  various  corps,  the  report  was  spread  abroad  that  the 
emperor  was  ill.  He  had  eaten  nothing  that  day,  and 
had  slept  badly  the  night  before,  so  those  who  were  in 
his  counsels  reported.  This  indisposition  proceeded 
from  the  powerful  impression  produced  upon  his  sensi- 
tive soul  by  the  sight  of  the  wounded  and  the  killed. 

At  daybreak,  on  the  twenty-ninth,  a  French  officer 
with  a  flag  of  truce  passed  the  sentinels,  and  was 
brought  into  Wischau,  demanding  a  personal  interview 
with  the  Russian  emperor. 

This  officer  was  Savary. 

The  sovereign  had  just  fallen  asleep,  and  therefore 
Savary  was  obliged  to  wait.  At  noon  he  was  admitted 
into  the  emperor's  presence,  and  at  the  end  of  an  hour 
came  out  and  rode,  accompanied  by  Prince  Dolgorukof, 
back  to  the  pickets  of  the  French  army. 


88  WAR    AND    PEACE 

It  was  soon  reported  that  the  purpose  of  Savary's 
mission  was  a  proposal  for  a  meeting  of  the  emperor 
with  Napoleon.  This  personal  meeting  was  refused, 
much  to  the  gratification  and  delight  of  the  whole  army, 
and  in  the  sovereign's  place  Prince  Dolgorukof,  the 
conqueror  of  Wischau,  was  delegated  to  confer  with 
Napoleon,  if,  contrary  to  anticipation,  these  conferences 
had  for  their  object  a  genuine  desire  for  peace. 

In  the  evening,  Dolgorukof  returned,  went  directly  to 
the  sovereign,  and  was  closeted  a  long  time  with  him 
alone. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  November  and  the  first  of  Decem- 
ber, the  armies  moved  forward  two  more  stages,  and  the 
advanced  pickets  of  the  enemy,  after  slight  skirmishes, 
retired.  Before  noon  of  December  first,  there  began  in 
the  upper  circles  of  the  army  a  vigorous,  stirring,  and 
exciting  movement,  which  continued  until  the  morning 
of  the  second  of  December,  when  was  fought  the  world- 
renowned  battle  of  Austerlitz. 

Up  to  the  afternoon  of  the  first,  the  movement,  the 
excited  conversations,  the  galloping  about  and  carrying 
of  messages,  was  confined  to  the  headquarters  of  the  two 
emperors ;  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  the  excite- 
ment was  communicated  to  Kutuzof's  headquarters  and 
to  the  staffs  of  the  division  commanders.  By  evening 
this  movement  had  spread,  by  means  of  the  aides,  to  all 
the  remotest  parts  of  the  army,  and  during  the  night 
that  followed  the  first  of  December  the  enormous  mass 
of  eighty  thousand  men,  comprising  the  allied  armies, 
arose  from  their  bivouacs  with  a  hum  of  voices,  and 
stirred  and  wavered  like  a  mighty  fabric  ten  versts  in 
length. 

The  concentrating  movement,  beginning  in  the  morn- 
ing at  the  headquarters  of  the.  emperors  and  finally 
giving  its  impulse  to  the  whole,  even  to  the  remotest 
parts,  was  analogous  to  the  first  movement  of  the  cen- 
tral wheel  of  a  great  tower  clock.  The  one  wheel 
moves  slowly,  it  starts  another,  —  a  third ;  and  ever 
more  and  more  swiftly  the  wheels,  pulleys,  pinions, 
begin  to  revolve,  the  chimes  of  bells  to  play,  the  figures 


WAR   AND    PEACE  89 

to  go  through  their  evolutions,  the  hands  to  move  in 
measured  time,  showing  the  results  of  the  motions. 

As  in  the  mechanism  of  the  clock,  so  in  the  niecha- 
nism  of  this  military  movement ;  no  less  irresistibly  cnev 
move  even  to  the  last  resultant,  when  once  the  impulse 
is  given  and  just  as  impassively  immovable,  up  to  the 
moment  when  the  movement  is  started,  are  the  parts  of 
the  mechanisms  as  yet  unstirred  by  their  work.  The 
wheels  whizz  on  their  axles,  the  cogs  catch,  the  revolving 
sheaves  hiss  in  their  rapid  motion,  but  the  next  wheel 
is  as  yet  as  calm  and  immovable  as  if  it  had  before  it  a 
century  to  remain  in  immobility ;  and  then  its  moment 
comes,  the  cog  has  caught,  and  becoming  subject  to  the 
motion  the  wheel  begins  to  whir  as  it  revolves  and 
takes  part  in  an  activity,  the  results  and  aim  of  which 
are  incomprehensible  to  it. 

Just  as  in  the  clock,  the  result  of  the  complicated 
motions  of  numberless  and  different  wheels  and  pulleys 
is  merely  to  move  the  hands  slowly  and  in  measured 
rhythm  so  as  to  tell  the  time,  so  the  result  of  all  the 
compHcated  human  motions  of  these  one  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  Russians  and  French  —  all  the  passions, 
desires,  regrets,  humiliations,  sufferings,  transports  of 
pride,  panic,  enthusiasm  of  all  these  men  was  merely 
the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  called  the  Battle  of 
the  Three  Emperors, — in  other  words,  the  measured 
forward  motion  of  the  hand  of  universal  history  on  the 
dial  of  humanity. 

Prince  Andrei  was  on  duty  this  day  and  constantly  by 
the  side  of  the  commander-in-chief. 

About  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Kutuzof  came  to  the 
headquarters  of  the  emperors,  and,  after  a  short  audience 
with  his  sovereign,  went  to  see  Count  Tolstoi',  the  Ober- 
hofmarshal,  master  of  supplies. 

Bolkonsky  took  advantage  of  this  time  to  run  into 
Dolgorukof's  to  find  out  about  the  impending  engage- 
ment. Prince  Andrei  felt  that  Kutuzof  was  dissatisfied 
and  out  of  sorts  for  some  reason  or  other,  and  that  he  was 
out  of  favor  at  headquarters,  and  that  all  whom  he  met 
at  the  emperor's  headquarters  behaved  tov/ard  him  like 


90  WAR   AND    PEACE 

men  who  know  more  than  others  know,  and  it  was  for  this 
reason  that  he  was  anxious  for  a  talk  with  Dolgorukof. 

"  Well,  how  are  you,  my  dear  ?  "  exclaimed  Dolgorukof, 
who  was  drinking  tea  with  Bilibin.  "  The  celebration 
comes  to-morrow!  —  What's  the  matter  with  your  old 
man?     Is  he  out  of  sorts?" 

*' I  should  not  say  that  he  was  out  of  sorts,  but  I 
think  that  he  would  like  to  have  been  listened  to." 

*' Well,  he  was  listened  to  at  the  council  of  war,  and 
he  w^ill  be  when  he  is  willing  to  talk  business;  but  to  be 
temporizing  and  waiting  for  something,  now  that  Bona- 
parte fears  a  general  engagement  more  than  anything 
else,  is  impossible." 

**  And  so  you've  seen  him,  have  you  ?  "  asked  Prince 
Andrei.  *'  Well,  what  sort  of  a  man  is  this  Bonaparte  ? 
What  impression  did  he  produce  upon  you  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  have  seen  him,  and  I  am  convinced  that  he 
is  more  afraid  of  a  general  engagement  than  of  any- 
thing else  in  the  world,"  replied  Dolgorukof,  evidently 
putting  great  importance  on  this  general  conclusion 
drawn  from  his  interview  with  Napoleon.  "  If  he  were 
not  afraid  of  a  general  battle,  why  should  he  have 
demanded  this  interview,  and  entered  into  negotiations, 
and  above  all  retreated,  w^hen  retreating  is  contrary  to 
his  entire  method  of  carrying  on  war  ?  Believe  me,  he 
is  afraid  —  afraid  of  a  general  engagement;  his  hour 
is  at  hand  !     Mark  my  words  !  " 

"  But  tell  me  about  him,  what  kind  of  a  man  is  he  ? " 
insisted  Prince  Andrei'. 

"  He  is  a  man  in  a  gray  overcoat,  very  anxious  for 
me  to  address  him  as  'your  majesty,'  and  very  much 
affronted  because  I  gave  him  no  title  at  all.  That 's  the 
kind  of  a  man  he  is,  and  that 's  all  I  can  say !  "  replied 
Dolgorukof,  looking  at  Bilibin  with  a  smile.  "  In  spite 
of  my  perfect  confidence  in  old  Kutuzof,"  he  went  on 
to  say,  "  we  should  all  be  in  a  fine  state  if  we  kept  on 
waiting  for  something  to  happen,  and  thereby  giving 
him  the  chance  to  outflank  us  or  play  some  trick  upon 
us,  now  when  he  's  right  in  our  hands  evidently.  No, 
it's  not  a  good  thing  to  forget  Suvorof  and  his  rule: 


WAR    AND    PEACE  91 

*  It 's  a  better  policy  to  attack  than  to  be  attacked.' 
Believe  me,  in  war  the  energy  of  young  men  often 
points  out  the  way  more  wisely  than  all  the  experience 
of  old  tacticians." 

''  But  in  what  position  are  we  going  to  attack  him  } 
I  was  at  the  advanced  posts  to-day,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  make  out  where  his  main  force  is  stationed,"  said 
Prince  Andrei".  He  was  anxious  to  explain  to  Dol- 
gorukof  a  plan  of  attack  of  his  own  which  he  had 
devised. 

"  Oh,  it  is  of  absolutely  no  consequence,"  replied  Dol- 
gorukof,  hastily  getting  up  and  spreading  a  map  on  the 
table.  "All  contingencies  are  foreseen.  If  he  is  posted 
at  Briinn ....  " 

And  Prince  Dolgorukof  rapidly  and  not  very  clearly 
unfolded  Weirother's  plan  for  a  flank  movement. 

Prince  Andrei  hastened  to  raise  objections  and  to 
expound  his  own  plan.  Perhaps  it  was  fully  as  good  as 
Weirother's,  but  it  had  one  serious  fault — that  Wei- 
rother's had  been  approved  instead.  As  soon  as  Prince 
Andrei  began  to  point  out  the  disadvantages  of  Wei- 
rother's, and  the  excellences  of  his  own  plan,  Prince 
Dolgorukof  ceased  listening  to  him  and  looked  absently, 
not  at  the  map,  but  at  Prince  Andrei's  face. 

"  Well,  there  is  to  be  a  council  of  war  this  evening  at 
Kutuzof's ;  there  you  will  have  a  chance  to  deliver  your 
views,"  said  Dolgorukof. 

"  I  certainly  shall,"  said  Prince  Andrei',  pushing  the 
map  aside. 

"  And  what  are  you  wrangling  over,  gentlemen }  " 
asked  Bilibin,  who  until  now  had  been  listening  to  their 
discussion  with  a  gay  smile,  and  had  at  last  made  up 
his  mind  to  get  some  sport  out  of  it.  "Whether  we 
have  a  victory  or  a  defeat  to-morrow,  the  glory  of  the 
Russian  arms  is  assured.  Except  our  Kutuzof,  there 
is  n't  a  single  Russian  division  commander.  The  heads 
are  Herr  General  Wimpfen,  le  Comte  de  Langeron,  le 
Prince  de  Lichtenstein,  le  Prince  de  Hohenlohe  et  enfin 
Prscz  —  Prscz  —  and  all  the  rest  of  the  alphabet,  like  all 
Polish  names." 


92  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"Hush,  Impudence!"  said  Dolgorukof,  —  "it  isn't 
so,  for  here  are  two  others,  Russians,  Miloradovitch  and 
Dokhturof,  and  we  might  count  Count  Arakcheyef  as  a 
third,  but  he  has  weak  nerves." 

"Well,  I  think  Mikhail  Iliaronovitch  must  have  come 
out,"  said  Prince  Andrei.  "  I  wish  you  all  happiness 
and  success,  gentlemen,"  he  added,  and  after  shaking 
hands  with  Dolgorukof  and  Bilibin  went  in  search  of 
Kutuzof. 

On  the  way  back  to  their  quarters,  Prince  Andrei 
could  not  refrain  from  asking  Kutuzof,  who  sat  in 
moody  silence  beside  him,  what  he  thought  of  the 
approaching  engagement. 

Kutuzof  looked  sternly  at  his  aide,  and  after  a 
moment  of  silence  replied  :  — 

"  I  think  that  the  battle  will  be  lost,  and  so  I  told 
Count  Tolstoi,  and  begged  him  to  repeat  it  to  the 
sovereign,  and  what  do  you  think  was  the  answer  he 
gave  me  ?  '  Ah,  my  dear  general,  rice  and  cutlets 
occupy  me ;  you  attend  to  the  affairs  of  war ! '  ^  Yes, 
that 's  the  way  they  answer  me !  " 


CHAPTER   Xn 

At  ten  o'clock  that  evening  Weirother  came  with  his 
plans  to  Kutuzof's  headquarters,  where  the  council  of 
war  was  to  convene.  All  the  division  commanders  had 
been  summoned  to  meet  at  the  commander-in-chief's, 
and  with  the  exception  of  Prince  Bagration,  who  ex- 
cused himself,  all  appeared  at  the  appointed  hour. 

Weirother,  who  was  the  chief  promoter  of  the  pro- 
posed engagement,  presented  by  his  eagerness  and 
vehemence  a  sharp  contrast  to  the  dissatisfied  and 
sleepy-looking  Kutuzof,  who  in  spite  of  himself  was 
obliged  to  preside  as  chairman  over  the  council  of 
war. 

1  Eh,mon  cher  general,  je  me  tnele  de  riz  et  des  cotelettes,  melez  vous  des 
affaires  de  la  guerre. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  93 

Weirother  evidently  felt  that  he  was  the  head  center 
of  the  movement  which  had  already  become  irresistible. 
He  was  like  a  horse  harnessed  into  a  loaded  team  and 
going  downhill.  He  knows  not  whether  he  is  pulling 
it  or  whether  it  is  forcing  him  onward ;  but  he  is  borne 
down  with  all  possible  rapidity,  and  has  no  time  to  fore- 
cast the  outcome  of  this  downward  motion. 

Weirother  twice  that  afternoon  had  been  out  person- 
ally to  inspect  the  enemy's  pickets,  and  had  twice  called 
on  the  Russian  and  Austrian  emperors  with  his  reports 
and  explanations,  and  had  been  to  his  own  chancellery, 
where  he  had  dictated  his  dispositions  in  German.  And 
now,  all  worn  out,  he  came  to  Kutuzof's. 

He  was  evidently  so  full  of  his  own  ideas  that  he  for- 
got to  be  civil  to  the  commander-in-chief;  he  interrupted 
him,  spoke  rapidly  and  incoherently,  not  looking  into 
the  face  of  his  colleague,  not  replying  to  the  questions 
asked  him,  and  he  was  spattered  with  mud  and  had  a 
woebegone,  haggard,  distracted,  but  at  the  same  time 
self-conceited  and  haughty  appearance. 

Kutuzof  occupied  a  small  manor-house  near  Auster- 
litz.  In  the  large  drawing-room,  which  had  been  con- 
verted into  an  office  for  the  commander-in-chief,  were 
gathered  Kutuzof,  Weirother,  and  all  the  members  of 
the  council  of  war.  They  were  drinking  tea.  They 
were  only  waiting  for  Bagration  in  order  to  open  the 
council  session.  Shortly  after  ten  o'clock,  Bagration's 
orderly  rode  over  with  the  message  that  the  prince  was 
unable  to  be  present.  Prince  Andrei  came  in  to  report 
this  to  the  commander-in-chief,  and  improving  the  per- 
mission previously  granted  by  Kutuzof  to  be  present  at 
the  council  remained  in  the  room. 

"  Well,  then,  as  Prince  Bagration  is  not  to  be  here,  we 
may  as  well  begin,"  exclaimed  Weirother,  hastily  jump- 
ing up  from  his  seat  and  going  over  to  the  table  whereon 
was  spread  a  large  map  of  the  environs  of  Brimn. 

Kutuzof  with  his  uniform  unbuttoned,  apparently  to 
give  greater  freedom  to  his  stout  neck  clasped  by  his 
collar,  was  sitting  in  a  Voltaire  chair,  with  his  plump, 
aged-looking  hands  symmetrically  placed  on  the  arms, 


94  WAR    AND    PEACE 

and  was  almost  asleep.  At  the  sound  of  Weirother's 
voice  he  with  difficulty  opened  his  one  eye. 

**  Yes,  yes,  please,  else  it  will  be  late,"  said  he;  nod- 
ding his  head  he  let  it  sink,  and  again  closed  his  eye. 

If,  at  first,  the  members  of  the  council  supposed  that 
Kutuzof  was  only  pretending  to  sleep,  this  time  the 
sounds  that  proceeded  from  his  nose  during  the  course 
of  the  subsequent  reading  were  sufficient  proof  that 
what  occupied  the  commander-in-chief  was  vastly  more 
serious  to  him  than  his  desire  to  express  scorn  for  the 
plan  of  battle,  or  anything  else  :  what  concerned  him  at 
that  moment  was  the  invincible  requirement  of  human 
nature,  sleep.     He  was  actually  napping ! 

Weirother,  with  the  action  of  a  man  too  much  occu- 
pied to  waste  a  moment  of  time,  glanced  at  Kutuzof, 
and  though  he  perceived  that  he  was  asleep,  took  his 
paper,  and  in  a  loud,  monotonous  tone  began  to  read 
his  plan  for  the  disposition  of  forces  for  the  impending 
engagement,  under  the  heading,  which  he  also  read, 
*'  Distribution  of  the  forces  for  the  attack  on  the 
enemy's  position  behind  Kobelnitz  and  Sokolnitz,  Nov- 
ember 30,  1805." 

The  "  disposition  "  was  very  complicated  and  difficult 
to  comprehend.  In  the  original  German,  it  was  to  the 
following  effect :  ^  -— 

"  Since  the  enemy  rests  his  left  wing  on  the  wooded  moun- 
tains, and  his  right  wing  stretches  along  by  Kobelnitz  and  Sokol- 
nitz, behind  the  ponds  that  are  there ;  while  we,  on  the  other 
hand,  far  outnumber  his  right  wing  with  our  left  —  it  is,  there- 
fore, for  our  advantage  to  attack  the  enemy's  right  wing,  espe- 

1  Da  der  Feind  mit  seinevi  linken  Flilgel  an  die  viit  Wald  bedeckten 
Berge  lehtit,  und  sich  mit  seuien  rechten  Flilgel  I'dngs  Kobelnitz  und  Sokol- 
nitz  Jiinter  die  dort  befindliche7i  I'eiche  zieht,  wir  im  Gegefit/ieil  mit  miserem 
linken  Flilgel  seinen  rechten  sehr  debordi7-en,  so  ist  es  vortheilhaft  letzeren 
Flilgel  des  Feindes  zu  attakiren,  besonders  luenn  wir  die  Dorfer  Sokolnitz 
und  Kobelnitz  im  Besitze  haben  luodiirch  wir  dem  Feind  ziigleich  in  die 
Flanke  fallen  tind  ihn  anf  der.  Fi'dche  zwischen  Schlapanitz  tind  dem  Thii- 
rassa-  IValde  verfolgeji  k'd)ineu,  indem  zoir  die  Defileen  von  Schlapanitz  und 
Bellozuitz    ausxoeichen,  welche    die  feindliche   Front   decken.     Zu    dieseni 

Endzwecke  ist  es  nothig  : Die  erst  Kolonne  marschirt die  zweite 

Kolonne  7narschirt ....  die  dritte  Kolonne  marschirt ....  u.  s.  w. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  95 

cially  if  we  are  in  possession  of  the  villages  of  Sokolnitz  and 
Kobelnitz,  because  we  should  immediately  fall  upon  the  enemy'? 
flanks,  and  be  able  to  drive  him  across  the  plain  between  Schla- 
panitz  and  the  Thuerass  forest,  and  avoid  the  defiles  of  Schla- 
panitz  and  Bellowitz,  which  protect  the  enemy's  front.  To  this 
end  it  is  necessary:  the  first  column  must  march  —  the  sec- 
ond column  must  march  —  the  third  column  must  march"  — 
and  so  on. 

Thus  read  Weirother.  The  generals  found  it  hard  to 
listen  to  the  tedious  details  of  the  scheme.  The  tall, 
fair-haired  General  Buxhovden  stood  leaning  against 
the  v^all,  and,  resting  his  eyes  on  one  of  the  lighted 
candles,  seemed  neither  to  listen  nor  to  wish  it  to  be 
supposed  that  he  was  listening.  Directly  opposite 
Weirother  sat  Miloradovitch,  with  his  brilliant,  wide- 
open  eyes,  ruddy  face,  and  elevated  mustache  and 
shoulders.  In  soldierly  attitude,  resting  his  hands  on 
his  knees,  with  the  elbows  turned  out,  he  preserved  a 
stubborn  silence,  gazing  directly  into  Weirother's  face, 
and  taking  his  eyes  from  him  only  when  the  Austrian 
commander  paused.  Then,  Miloradovitch  looked  sig- 
nificantly at  the  other  generals.  But  it  was  utterly  im- 
possible to  tell  by  this  significant  look  whether  he 
agreed  or  disagreed,  whether  he  was  satisfied  or  dissat- 
isfied, with  the  proposed  plan. 

Nearest  of  all  to  Weirother,  sat  the  Count  de  Lan- 
geron,  and  with  a  shrewd  smile,  which  did  not  once  during 
the  reading  vanish  from  his  Southern  French  counte- 
nance, he  gazed  at  his  slender  fingers,  rapidly  twirling 
by  the  corners  his  gold  snuff-box  adorned  with  a  minia- 
ture portrait.  In  the  midst  of  one  of  the  longest  sen- 
tences, he  stopped  this  whirling  of  his  snuff-box,  raised 
his  head,  and,  with  a  disagreeable  show  of  politeness 
carried  to  extremes,  he  interrupted  him,  and  started  to 
make  some  remark  ;  but  the  Austrian  general,  not  paus- 
ing in  his  task,  frowned  angrily,  and  made  a  gesture 
with  his  elbows,  as  much  as  to  say:  'Wait,  wait,  you 
shall  tell  me  your  ideas  by  and  by  ;  now  be  good  enough 
to  look  at  the  map  and  follow  me!  " 

Langeron  threw  up  his  eyes  with  an  expression  of 


^-^6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

perplexity,  glanced  at  Miloradovitch,  as  if  he  were  seek- 
ing for  an  explanation ;  but  meeting  Miloradovitch's 
significant  but  enigmatical  glance,  he  looked  away 
gloomily,  and  began  once  more  to  twirl  his  snuff-box. 

**  A  geography  lesson  !  "  he  exclaimed,  as  if  to  him- 
self, but  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  the  others. 

Prsczebiszewsky,  with  respectful  but  dignified  polite- 
ness, held  one  hand  to  the  ear  nearest  Weirother,  and 
had  the  appearance  of  a  man  whose  attention  is  per- 
fectly absorbed. 

Dokhturof,  small  in  stature,  sat  opposite  Weirother 
with  attentive  and  modest  mien,  and  leaned  over  the 
map  unrolled  before  him,  and  conscientiously  followed 
the  scheme  as  it  was  evolved,  studying  the  places  which 
he  did  not  know.  Several  times  he  begged  Weirother 
to  repeat  some  word  that  he  had  failed  to  understand, 
or  the  names  of  villages  that  were  hard  for  him  to  catch. 
Weirother  complied  with  his  request,  and  Dokhturof 
wrote  them  down  in  his  note-book. 

When  the  reading,  which  had  lasted  upward  of  an 
hour,  was  completed,  Langeron,  again  laying  down  his 
snuff-box,  and  without  looking  at  Weirother,  or  any  one 
in  particular,  began  to  discourse  on  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  carrying  out  such  a  plan  of  battle,  even 
where  the  position  of  the  enemy  was  known,  and  par- 
ticularly when  the  position  of  the  enemy  could  not  be 
known,  owing  to  their  constant  changing  from  one  place 
to  another. 

Langeron's  objections  were  well  taken,  but  it  was 
evident  that  their  aniums  came  from  a  desire  to  show 
General  Weirother,  who  had  been  reading  his  plan  of 
attack  in  the  most  conceited  manner,  as  if  to  a  pack  of 
school-boys,  that  he  was  dealing  not  with  dunces  but 
with  men  who  were  able  to  give  even  him  lessons  in  the 
art  of  waging  war. 

When  Weirother's  monotonous  voice  ceased,  Kutuzof 
opened  his  eyes,  like  a  miller  who  wakes  the  moment 
the  soporific  sounds  of  his  mill-wheels  are  interrupted  ; 
he  listened  to  what  Langeron  said,  and  then,  as  much  as 
to  say,  *'  Well,  what  nonsense  you  all   are  capable  of 


WAR    AND    PEACE  97 

uttering,"  hurriedly  closed  his  eyes  again,  and  let  his 
head  sink  even  lower  on  his  breast. 

Langeron,  endeavoring  to  wound  Weirother  as  cruelly 
as  possible  in  his  self-love  as  an  author  and  soldier, 
went  on  to  show  that  Bonaparte  might  easily  attack 
instead  of  waiting  to  be  attacked,  and,  consequently, 
make  all  this  elaborate  plan  of  battle  perfectly  nugatory. 
Weirother  replied  to  all  these  objections  with  a  steady, 
scornful  smile,  which  was  evidently  prepared  before- 
hand against  everything  that  might  be  said  to  him  :  — 

"  If  he  had  been  able  to  attack  us,  he  would  have  done 
so  to-day,"  said  he. 

*'  You  think  that  he  is  weak,  do  you  ? "  asked  Langeron. 

''  He  is  well  off  if  he  has  forty  thousand  men,"  replied 
Weirother,  with  the  smile  of  a  regular  practitioner  to 
whom  a  woman  doctor  wishes  to  suggest  some  remedy. 

*'  In  that  case,  he  is  rushing  on  his  own  ruin  by  wait- 
ing for  us  to  attack  him,"  said  Langeron,  with  a  slight, 
ironical  smile,  looking  to  Miloradovitch  again  for  con- 
firmation. But  Miloradovitch  was  apparently  thinking 
least  of  all  of  what  the  generals  were  contending 
about : — 

''Mafoi!''  said  he,  "to-morrow  we  shall  find  out  all 
about  it  on  the  battle-field !  " 

Weirother  again  indulged  in  that  smile  which  said  that 
to  Jiiui  it  was  absurd  and  strange  to  meet  the  objections 
of  the  Russian  generals  toward  what  not  only  he  himself, 
but  the  sovereign  emperors,  had  had  faith  in. 

"  The  enemy  have  quenched  their  fires,  and  a  constant 
rumble  has  been  heard  in  their  camp,"  said  he.  ''What 
does  that  signify }  Either  he  is  retreating,  which  is  the 
only  thing  that  we  have  to  fear,  or  he  is  changing  his 
position."  He  smiled.  "  But  even  if  he  should  take  up 
his  position  in  Thiirassa,  he  is  merely  saving  us  great 
trouble,  and  all  our  arrangements,  even  to  the  minutest 
details,  would  remain  the  same." 

"  How  so.^  "asked  Prince  Andrei,  who  had  been  watch- 
ing for  some  time  for  an  opportunity  to  express  his 
doubts.  Kutuzof  here  woke  up,  coughed  severely,  and 
looked  around  on  the  generals. 

VOL.  II.  —  7 


98  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  Gentlemen,  the  arrangements  for  to-morrow  —  or 
rather  for  to-day  —  for  it 's  already  one  o'clock  —  cannot 
be  changed,"  said  he.  "You  have  heard  them,  and  we 
will  all  perform  our  duty.  But  before  a  battle  there  is 
nothing  more  important"  —  he  paused  a  moment  — 
"than  to  have  a  good  night's  rest." 

He  made  a  motion  to  arise.  The  generals  bowed 
and  separated.  It  was  already  after  midnight.  Prince 
Andrei  went  to  his  quarters. 

The  council  of  war  at  which  Prince  Andrei"  was  not 
given  a  chance  to  express  his  opinion  as  he  had  hoped, 
left  a  dubious  and  disturbing  impression  on  his  mind. 
He  did  not  know  who  was  right,  Dolgorukof  and  Wei- 
rother,  or  Kutuzof  and  Langeron,  and  the  others  who  did 
not  approve  of  the  plan  of  attack.  *'  But  is  it  possible 
that  Kutuzof  cannot  communicate  his  ideas  directly  with 
the  emperor.?  Can't  this  be  done  even  now  ?  Can  it  be 
that  for  mere  court  or  private  considerations  thousands 
of  lives  must  be  imperiled  —  and  mine,  mzuef  he 
asked  himself. 

"  Yes,  it  is  very  possible,"  he  thought,  "  that  I  may  be 
killed  to-morrow."  And  suddenly  at  this  thought  of 
death,  a  whole  series  of  most  remote  and  most  sincere 
recollections  began  to  arise  in  his  mind ;  he  recalled  his 
last  parting  with  his  father  and  his  wife  ;  he  remembered 
the  early  days  of  his  love  toward  her  !  He  remembered 
the  baby  that  she  was  to  bear  him,  and  he  began  to  feel 
sorry  for  her  and  for  himself,  and  so  in  a  nervously 
tender  and  agitated  frame  of  mind  he  left  the  cottage 
where  he  lodged  with  Nesvitsky,  and  began  to  walk  up 
and  down  in  front  of  the  house. 

The  night  was  cloudy,  but  the  moonbeams  mysteri- 
ously gleamed  through  the  clouds.  "  Yes,  to-morrow, 
to-morrow  !  "  he  thought.  "  To-morrow,  perhaps  all 
will  be  ended  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  all  these  recol- 
lections will  have  vanished,  all  these  recollections  will 
be  for  me  as  a  mere  nothing.  To-morrow  perhaps,  in- 
deed most  probably,  — to-morrow  —  I  am  convinced  of  it 
I  shall  have  an  opportunity  for  the  first  time  at  last  of 
showing  all  that  I  cam  do." 


WAR    AND    PEACE  99 

And  he  began  to  picture  to  himself  the  battle,  the  loss 
of  it,  the  concentration  of  the  fighting  at  one  single 
point,  and  the  confusion  and  bewilderment  of  all  the 
leaders.  And  now  comes  the  blessed  moment,  that 
Toulon,  for  which  he  had  been  waiting  so  long,  offering 
itself  to  him  !  He  resolutely  and  clearly  tells  his  opinion 
to  Kutuzof  and  Weirother  and  the  emperors.  All  his 
plans  are  honored  with  their  approval,  but  no  one  offers 
to  carry  them  out,  and  so  he  selects  a  regiment,  a 
division,  imposes  the  condition  that  no  one  shall  inter- 
fere in  his  arrangements,  and  he  leads  his  division  to 
the  decisive  point,  and  alone  wins  the  victory ! 

*'  But  death  and  suffering  .''  "  says  another  voice. 

Prince  Andrei,  however,  paid  no  heed  to  this  voice, 
and  continued  to  dream  of  his  triumphs.  The  arrange- 
ments of  the  next  battle  are  intrusted  to  him  alone.  He 
is  still  nothing  but  an  officer  of  the  day  in  Kutuzof's 
army,  but  still  he  does  everything  by  his  own  unaided 
efforts.  The  next  battle  is  gained  by  him  alone.  Kutuzof 
is  removed,  he  is  called  to  fill  his  place. 

''Well,  but  what  then,"  whispered  the  other  voices; 
"  what  then  }  supposing  you  are  not  wounded  ten  times, 
before  all  this,  or  killed,  or  cheated,  well,  then,  and  what 
next.?" 

"  I  am  sure  I  know  not,"  replied  Prince  Andrei"  to 
himself,  "  I  know  not  what  will  come  next,  I  cannot 
know  and  I  have  no  wish  to  know.  But  if  I  wish  this, 
if  I  wish  to  win  glory,  if  I  wish  to  be  a  famous  man,  if 
I  wish  to  be  loved  by  men,  then  I  am  not  to  blame  be- 
cause I  desire  it,  because  this  is  the  only  thing  that  I 
desire,  the  only  thing  for  which  I  live.  Yes,  the  only 
thing.  I  never  will  confess  this  to  any  one !  But  my 
God  !  what  can  I  do,  if  I  love  nothing  except  glory  only, 
and  devotion  to  humanity  }  Death,  wounds,  loss  of  family, 
nothing  is  terrible  to  me.  And  yet  dear  to  me,  precious 
to  me  as  many  people  are,  — father,  sister,  wife,  the  dear- 
est of  all,  —  yet  strange  and  unnatural  as  it  may  seem, 
I  would  instantly  sacrifice  them  all  for  one  minute  of 
glory,  of  triumph,  for  the  affection  of  men  whom  I  do 
not  know  and  never  shall  know,  even  for  the  love  of 


ioo  WAR   AND    PEACE 

those  men  there,"  said  he  to  himself,  as  he  listened  to  the 
sounds  of  voices  talking  in  Kutuzof's  courtyard. 

In  Kutuzof's  courtyard  the  dejis/ic/iiks  were  busy  pack- 
ing up  and  talking ;  one  voice,  apparently  that  of  the 
coachman,  who  was  teasing  Kutuzof's  old  cook,  whom 
Prince  Andrei  knew,  and  whom  they  called  Tit,  kept 
saying,  "  Tit,  I  say.  Tit !  " 

''There,  now,"  replied  the  old  man. 

"  Tit,  Tit,  grind  the  wheat."  ^ 

"Tfu!  go  to  the  devil,"  rang  the  voice,  which  was 
drowned  by  the  shouts  of  laughter  of  the  densJichiks 
and  other  servants. 

"  And  yet  I  love  and  prize  the  victory  over  them  all, 
I  prize  this  mysterious  strength  and  glory  which  seems 
here  to  hover  above  my  head  in  this  fog." 


CHAPTER   XIII 

RosTOF  that  same  night  was  with  his  platoon  in  the 
line  of  scouts  stationed  in  front  of  Bagration's  division. 
His  hussars  were  posted  two  and  two  along  the  line ; 
he  himself  kept  riding  his  horse  the  whole  length  of 
the  line,  struggling  to  overcome  his  irresistible  inclina- 
tion to  drowsiness. 

Behind  him  he  could  see  the  long  line  of  the  watch- 
fires  of  our  army  dimly  gleaming  through  the  fog ;  in 
front  of  him  was  the  misty  darkness.  Though  he 
strained  his  eyes  to  penetrate  this  misty  distance,  he 
could  see  nothing;  now  it  seemed  to  brighten  up  a 
little,  then  there  seemed  to  be  some  black  object ;  then 
he  imagined  that  he  saw  a  light  which  he  thought  must 
be  the  watch-fires  where  the  enemy  were,  and  then  again 
he  told  himself  that  his  eyes  had  deceived  him. 

He  closed  his  eyes  and  his  imagination  presented 
now  his  sovereign,  now  Denisof,  now  his  recollections 
of  Moscow,  and  again  he  would  open  his  eyes  and  see 
rio^ht  before  his  face  the  head  and  ears  of  his  horse,  and 


^•a' 


Tit,  siupal  moloftt!" 


WAR    AND    PEACE  loi 

here  and  there  the  dark  forms  of  hussars  as  he  came 
within  six  paces  of  them,  while  everywhere  there  was 
the  same  misty  darkness  veiUng  the  distance. 

"  Why  not  ?  It  might  very  possibly  come  to  pass," 
thought  Rostof,  "  the  emperor  might  meet  me  and  give 
me  an  order,  just  as  to  any  other  officer;  might  say: 
'  Ride  off  yonder  and  find  out  what  is  there.'  I  have 
heard  many  stories  about  his  finding  just  merely  by 
chance  an  officer  like  me,  and  taking  him  into  his  per- 
sonal service.  What  if  he  should  take  me  into  his  per- 
sonal service  !  oh !  how  I  should  watch  over  him,  how 
I  should  tell  him  the  whole  truth,  how  I  should  unmask 
his  deceivers  !  "  and  Rostof,  in  order  to  give  greater 
color  to  the  love  and  devotion  which  he  felt  for  his  sov- 
ereign, imagined  that  he  had  before  him  an  enemy 
whom  he  was  killing,  or  a  German  traitor  whose  ears 
he  was  roundly  boxing,  in  presence  of  his  sovereign. 

Suddenly,  a  distant  shout  startled  him.  He  awoke 
and  opened  his  eyes. 

"  Where  am  I .?  Oh,  yes,  at  the  outposts.  Coun- 
tersign and  password  are  '  cart-pole '  and  '  Olmiitz.' 
What  a  shame  that  our  squadron  is  going  to  be  held 
in  reserve  to-morrow,"  he  said  to  himself.  '*  I  will  beg 
to  take  part.  That  is  probably  the  only  chance  I  shall 
have  of  se'eing  the  emperor.  It  won't  be  long  before  I 
am  relieved.  I  will  ride  up  and  down  once  more,  and 
then  I  will  go  and  ask  the  general." 

He  straightened  himself  up  in  the  saddle,  and  turned 
his  horse,  once  more  to  inspect  his  hussars.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  it  had  grown  lighter.  Toward  his  left,  he 
could  see  a  slope,  the  gleam  of  a  declivity,  and,  lying 
opposite  to  him,  a  dark  knoll  which  seemed  as  steep  as 
a  wall.  On  the  top  of  this  knoll  was  a  white  spot. 
Rostof  could  not  clearly  make  out  whether  it  was  a 
clearing  in  the  woods,  lighted  by  the  moon,  or  a  patch 
of  snow,  or  white  houses.  It  even  seemed  to  him  that 
there  was  something  moving  on  that  white  spot 

"  It  must  be  snow,  that  spot;  spot  —  iifie  tacke,"  said 
Rostof,  first  in  Russian,  then  in  French.  "  How  absurd ; 
it's  no  tac/ie — Natasha  ....  my  sister  ....  has  black  eyes. 


I02  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Na — tashka  (how  amazed  she  will  be  when  I  tell  her 
I  have  seen  the  emperor  !).  Na — tasha.  My  sabre- 
tasJi  —  take  it." 

•'  Farther  to  the  right,  your  nobility,  there  are  bushes 
here  !  "  said  the  voice  of  the  hussar,  by  whom  Rostof 
was  passing,  half  asleep.  Rostof  raised  his  head,  which 
had  fallen  over  almost  down  to  the  horse's  mane ;  he 
drew  up  near  the  hussar.  The  sleep  of  youth,  of  child- 
hood, irresistibly  overcame  him. 

"  O  dear  me,  what  was  I  thinking  of }  I  must  not 
forget.  How  shall  I  speak  to  the  emperor  .?  No,  that 's 
not  it ;  that 's  for  to-morrow.  Oh,  yes,  yes !  that  spot 
—  cette  tacJie  !  they  '11  be  attacking  us  !  Us  .?....  who  .?.... 
The  hussars!  But  the  hussars  and  —  and  a  pair  of 
mustaches.  —  Along  the  Tverskaya,  this  hussar  was 
riding,  and  I  was  thinking  about  him,  —  right  opposite 
Hurief's  house  —  the  old  man  Hurief  —  ekh  !  splendid 
little  Denisof !  Ah !  this  is  all  nonsense.  The  main 
thing :  the  emperor  is  here  now !  How  he  looked  at 
me  and  wanted  to  say  something  to  me,  but  he  did  not 
venture.  No,  it  was  I  who  did  not  venture !  This  is 
all  mixed  up  !  but  the  main  thing  is  that  I  must  not 
forget  that  I  had  something  important  on  my  mind ;  so 
I  had  !  Natashka  —  Na— tasha  —  la  tache  —  yes,  that 's 
a  good  joke !  "  and  again  his  head  sank  forward  on  the 
horse's  mane. 

Suddenly,  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  enemy  were  firing 
at  him. 

''What.?  What,  what's  that;  speak!  what  is  it.?" 
cried   Rostof,  waking. 

At  the  instant  Rostof  opened  his  eyes,  he  heard  in 
front  of  him,  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy,  the  pro- 
longed shouts  of  thousands  of  voices.  His  horse  and 
the  hussars'  stationed  near  him  pricked  up  their  ears 
at  these  sounds.  On  the  spot  from  which  the  cries 
proceeded,  one  point  of  fire  after  another  flashed  and 
died,  and  along  the  whole  line  of  the  French  army, 
stretching  up  the  hills,  gleamed  those  fires,  while  the 
shouts  grew  louder  and  louder.  Rostof  made  out  that 
it  was   French,  but  could  not   distinguish  the  words. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  103 

There  was   too    great   a  roar   of   voices.      AH   that  it 
sounded  hke  was  a  confused  a-a-a-a!  and  rrrrrrr! 

''What's  that?  What  do  you  think  it  is?"  asked 
Rostof,  turning  to  his  neighbor,  the  hussar.  "  It's  from 
the  enemy,  isn't  it?  " 

The  hussar  made  no  reply. 

''What!  didn't  you  hear  anything?"  asked  Rostof, 
after  waiting  for  some  time  for  the  hussar  to  speak. 

"How  can  anybody  tell,  your  nobility,"  replied  the 
hussar,  in  a  non-committal  way. 

"Judging  from  the  direction,  it  must  be  the  enemy, 
mustn't  it?"  inquired  Rostof. 

"Maybe  'tis,  and  maybe  'tis  n't,"  exclaimed  the 
hussar.  "You  see  it's  night.  There  now,  steady,"  he 
cried  to  his  horse,  who  was  growing  restive.  Rostof's 
horse  also  became  excited,  and  pawed  the  frozen 
ground,  as  he  listened  to  the  shouting  and  glanced  at 
the  flashing  fires. 

The  shouts  of  the  voices  constantly  increased  in 
volume,  and  mingled  in  a  general  roar,  such  as  could 
have  been  produced  only  by  an  army  of  many  thousand 
men.  The  fires  stretched  out  more  and  more,  until  at 
last  they  seemed  to  extend  throughout  the  French  camp. 
Rostof  had  now  lost  all  inclination  to  sleep.  The  joy- 
ful, enthusiastic  huzzas  in  the  enemy's  army  had  a  most 
stimulating  effect  upon  him.  Vive  rempereiir!  Pem- 
pereur!  were  the  words  that  Rostof  could  now  clearly 
distinguish. 

"Well,  they  can't  be  far  away;  must  be  just  beyond 
the  brook,"  said  he  to  the  hussar  by  his  side. 

The  hussar  only  sighed,  without  vouchsafing  any 
answer,  and  coughed  sullenly. 

Along  the  line  of  the  hussars  was  heard  the  sound 
of  a  horseman,  coming  at  full  gallop,  and  out  of  the 
darkness  of  the  night  suddenly  loomed  up  a  shape 
apparently  larger  than  a  colossal  elephant:  it  was  a 
non-commissioned  officer  of  hussars. 

"The  generals,  your  nobility!"  cried  the  subaltern, 
riding  up  to  Rostof.  Rostof,  still  looking  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  shouting  and 'the  lights,  joined  the  subaltern 


I04  WAR    AND    PEACE 

and  rode  back  to  meet  several  horsemen  who  were  rid- 
ing along  the  line.  One  was  on  a  white  horse.  It  was 
Bagration,  who,  together  with  Prince  Dolgorukof  and 
several  aides,  came  down  to  see  what  they  could  make 
out  of  the  strange  phenomenon  of  the  fires  and  shout- 
ing in  the  enemy's  army.  Rostof  rode  up  to  Bagration, 
reported,  and  took  his  place  among  the  aides,  who  were 
listening  to  what  the  generals  might  say. 

*'  Believe  me,"  said  Prince  Dolgorukof,  addressing 
Bagration,  "this  is  nothing  but  a  ruse;  he  is  retreating, 
and  has  ordered  the  rear-guard  to  light  fires  and  make 
a  noise,  so  as  to  deceive  us." 

''It  is  not  likely,"  said  Bagration.  "Last  evening  I 
saw  them  on  that  knoll;  if  they  were  retreating,  they 
would  have  abandoned  it.  Mr.  Officer,"  turning  to 
Rostof,  "are  his  scouts  still  there.?  " 

"They  were  there  last  evening,  but  I  can't  tell  now, 
your  illustriousness.  If  you  would  like,  I  will  take  some 
of  the  hussars  and  find  out,"  replied  Rostof. 

Bagration  hesitated,  and  making  no  answer,  tried  to 
peer  into  Rostof's  face.     "  Well,  all  right,  go  and  recon- 
noiter,"  said  he,  after  a  short  pause. 
"I  will  do  so." 

Rostof  applied  spurs  to  his  horse,  called  Subaltern 
Fadchenko  and  two  other  hussars,  ordered  them  to  fol- 
low him,  and  galloped  off  down  the  slope  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  prolonged  shouts.  Rostof  felt  both  sad  and 
glad  to  be  riding  thus  alone  with  three  hussars  yonder 
into  that  mysterious  and  terrible  misty  distance  where 
no  one  had  preceded  him.  Bagration  called  to  him 
from  the  crest  not  to  go  farther  than  the  brook,  but 
Rostof  pretended  not  to  hear  what  he  said,  and  without 
pausing  they  rode  farther  and  farther,  constantly  find- 
ing himself  subject  to  illusions,  mistaking  bushes  for 
trees,  gullies  for  men,  and  constantly  rectifying  his 
impressions. 

After  they  had  reached  the  bottom  at  a  rapid  trot, 
they  no  longer  saw  any  fires  either  on  our  side  or  on  the 
enemy's,  but  the  shouts  of  the  French  began  to  sound 
louder  and  clearer.     In  the  ravine  he  saw  before  him 


WAR    AND    PEACE  105 

what  he  took  to  be  a  river,  but  when  he  approached  it, 
he  recognized  that  it  was  a  highway  over  which  he  had 
once  ridden.  When  he  reached  the  highway,  he  reined 
in  his  horse  in  some  uncertainty ;  should  he  ride  along 
the  road,  or  cross  it,  or  strike  into  the  dark  field  on  the 
other  side  ?  To  ride  along  the  road  which  shone  through 
the  fog  was  less  perilous,  because  he  could  distinguish 
men  at  a  greater  distance. 

''Follow  me,"  he  cried,  crossing  the  road,  and  he 
began  to  gallop  up  the  hill  toward  a  place  where  a 
French  picket  had  been  standing  the  afternoon  before. 

"Your  nobility,  there  he  is!"  exclaimed  one  of  the 
hussars,  and  before  Rostof  had  a  chance  to  look  at  what 
was  beginning  to  loom  up  black  in  the  fog,  there  came 
a  flash  of  fire,  the  report  rang  out,  and  the  bullet,  as  if 
winged  with  pity,  buzzed^  l^igh  over  their  heads 
through  the  fog,  and  sped  out  of  hearing.  The  second 
musket  did  not  go  off,  the  powder  merely  flashed  in  the 
priming-pan.  Rostof  turned  his  horse  about  and  rode 
back  at  a  gallop.  Again  from  different  points  four 
musket-shots  rang  out,  and  the  bullets  with  various  tones 
whistled  by  and  buried  themselves  in  the  darkness. 
Rostof  reined  in  his  horse,  which,  like  himself,  felt  a 
thrill  of  joy  at  the  firing,  and  proceeded  at  a  walk. 
"Well,  there  it  is  again,  there  it  is  again,"  whispered 
some  inspiriting  voice  in  his  heart.  But  there  were  no 
more  shots. 

As  soon  as  he  neared  Bagration,  Rostof  again  urged 
his  horse  to -a  gallop,  and  held  his  hand  to  his  visor  as 
he  approached. 

Dolgorukof  still  clung  to  his  opinion  that  the  French 
were  retreating,  and  had  kindled  the  fires  merely  for  the 
sake  of  deceiving  us.  "What  does  this  signify.'^"  he 
asked,  as  Rostof  rode  up  to  them.  "They  might  retreat 
and  still  leave  pickets." 

"  It  is  evident  they  have  not  all  gone,  prince," 
said  Bagration.  "To-morrow  morning,  to-morrow,  we 
shall  know  for  a  certainty." 

"There  is  a  picket,  your  illustriousness,  in  just  the 

^  Zazhuzhdla. 


io6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

same  place  as  yesterday,"  reported  Rostof,  bending  for- 
ward, still  holding  his  hand  at  his  visor,  and  unable  to 
refrain  from  a  smile  of  delight  at  his  ride,  and  especially 
at  the  sound  of  the  bullets. 

*'  Very  good,  very  good,"  replied  Bagration.  *'  Thank 
you,  Mr.  Officer." 

"Your  illustriousness,"  said  Rostof,  "allow  me  to  ask 
a  favor." 

"V/hatis  it.?" 

"  To-morrow  our  squadron  is  to  be  left  in  reserve ; 
allow  me  to  be  transferred  to  the  first  squadron." 

"What 's  your  name  ?  " 

"  Count  Rostof." 

"  Ah,  good.     Stay  with  me  as  orderly." 

"  Son  of  Ilya  Andreyitch  ?  "  asked  Dolgorukof.  But 
Rostof  made  him  no  answer. 

"  So  I  may  expect  it,  your  illustriousness  ?  " 

"  I  will  see  to  it." 

"To-morrow,  very  likely,  I  may  be  sent  with  some 
message  to  the  sovereign,"  said  Rostof  to  himself. 
''Glory  to  God!" 

The  shouts  and  cries  in  the  enemy's  army  arose  from 
the  circumstance  that  at  the  time  Napoleon's  general 
order  was  being  read  throughout  the  army,  the  em- 
peror himself  came  on  horseback  to  inspect  the  biv- 
ouacs. The  soldiers,  seeing  the  emperor,  lighted  trusses 
of  straw  and  followed  him  with  cries  of  vive  V empereiir ! 

Napoleon's  order  was  as  follows  :  — 

"  Soldiers  !  The  Russian  army  has  come  against  us  in  order 
to  avenge  the  Austrian  army  of  Ulm.  These  are  the  same  bat- 
talions which  we  defeated  at  Hollabriimi,  and  which,  since  that 
time,  we  have  been  constantly  following  up. 

"  The  position  which  we  occupy  is  paramount,  and  as  soon  as 
they  attempt  to  outflank  my  right  they  will  expose  their  own 
flank. 

"Soldiers  !  I  myself  will  direct  your  battalions.  I  will  keep 
out  of  range  of  the  firing,  if  you,  with  your  usual  gallantry,  carry 
confusion  and  consternation  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy ;  but 
if  the  combat  becomes  for  one  instant  doubtful,  you  will  see 


WAR   AND    PEACE  107 

your  emperor  exposing  himself  at  the  front  to  the  blows  of  the 
enemy,  since  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  the  victory,  especially 
to-day 'when  the  honor  of  the  French  infantry,  in  whose  hands 
Ues  the  honor  of  the  nation,  is  at  stake.  Do  not  break  the 
ranks  under  pretext  of  carrying  away  the  wounded.  Let  each 
man  be  animated  by  the  thought  that  we  must  conquer  these 
mercenaries  of  England,  filled  with  such  hatred  against  our  na- 
tion. This  victory  will  bring  the  campaign  to  an  end,  and  we 
can  retire  to  winter  quarters  where  we  shall  be  joined  by  the 
fresh  troops  that  are  mobilizing  in  France.  And  then  the 
peace  which  I  shall  conclude  will  be  memorable  for  my  people, 
for  you,  and  for  me.  Napoleon." 


CHAPTER    XIV 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  it  was  still  perfectly 
dark.  The  troops  of  the  center,  of  the  reserves,  and 
the  right  wing,  under  Bagration,  were  as  yet  motionless; 
but  on  the  left  wing  the  columns  of  infantry,  cavalry, 
and  artillery,  ordered  to  be  the  first  to  descend  from 
the  heights  and  attack  the  enemy's  right  flank,  and 
drive  him  back  into  the  mountains  of  Bohemia,  accord- 
ing to  the  ''disposition,"  were  already  stirring  and  be- 
ginning to  rise  from  where  they  lay.  The  smoke  from 
the  fires,  into  which  they  were  throwing  everything 
superfluous,  made  their  eyes  smart.  It  was  cold  and 
dark.  The  officers  were  hastily  drinking  their  tea  and 
breakfasting  ;  the  soldiers  were  munching  their  biscuits, 
kicking  the  round  shot  to  warm  their  feet,  and  crowding 
about  in  front  of  the  fires,  throwing  in  the  remains  of 
their  huts,  chairs,  tables,  wheels,  buckets,  and  every- 
thing that  could,  not  be  taken  with  them. 

The  Austrian  guides  were  wandering  about  among 
the  Russian  troops,  and  serving  as  starters  of  the  for- 
ward movement.  As  soon  as  an  Austrian  officer  made 
his  appearance  near  the  quarters  of  a  regimental  com- 
mander, the  regiment  began  to  stir:  the  soldiers 
hastened  from  the  fires,  thrust  their  pipes  into  their 
boot-legs,  their  bags  into  the  baggage-wagons,  put  their 
guns  in  order,  and  fell  into  line. 


io8  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Officers  were  buttoning  themselves  up,  putting  on 
their  swords  and  pouches,  and  inspecting  the  lines, 
scolding  as  they  went ;  the  trainmen  and  officers'  ser- 
vants were  hitching  up  horses,  packing  in  various  ar- 
ticles, and  loading  the  wagons. 

Aides,  battalion  commanders,  and  colonels  were 
mounting  their  horses,  crossing  themselves,  and  issuing 
their  last  instructions,  orders,  and  commissions  to  the 
train-hands  left  in  charge  of  the  baggage;  then  was 
heard  the  monotonous  trampling  of  thousands  of 
feet. 

The  columns  were  set  in  motion,  but  they  knew  not 
whither  they  were  going,  and  owing  to  the  throngs  that 
surrounded  them,  and  the  smoke,  and  the  thickening 
fog,  they  could  not  see  either  the  place  that  they  were 
leaving,  or  that  to  which  they  were  sent. 

The  soldier  in  a  military  movement  is  as  much  sur- 
rounded, limited,  and  fettered  by  his  regiment  as  a 
sailor  is  by  the  ship  on  which  he  sails.  However  far 
he  goes,  into  whatever  strange,  unknown,  and  terrible 
distances  he  is  sent,  around  him  are  always  and  every- 
where the  same  comrades,  the  same  ranks,  the  same  ser- 
geant, Ivan  Mitrich,  the  same  company  dog,  Zhutchka, 
the  same  officers;  just  as  for  the  sailor  there  are  the 
same  decks,  the  same  masts,  the  same  cables. 

The  sailor  rarely  cares  to  know  the  distances  over 
which  his  ship  has  sailed ;  but  on  the  day  of  a  military 
movement  God  knows  how,  or  whence,  or  in  what 
world  of  mystery  the  soldiers  hear  a  stern  note,  which 
is  the  same  for  all,  and  which  signifies  the  nearness  of 
something  decisive  and  solemn,  and  invites  them  to 
dream  of  what  they  are  not  usually  wout  to  think  about. 
The  soldiers  on  the  day  of  a  military  movement  are  ex- 
cited, and  strive  to  get  beyond  the  petty  interests  of 
their  own  regiment;  they  are  all  ears  and  eyes,  and 
greedily  ask  questions  about  what  is  going  to  take  place 
before  them. 

The  fog  was  so  dense  that,  though  it  had  grown 
lighter,  it  was  impossible  to  see  ten  paces  ahead. 
Bushes  seemed   like  huge  trees,  level  places  gave  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  109 

impression  of  being  precipices  and  slopes.  Anywhere 
at  any  moment,  they  might  meet  the  enemy,  who  would 
be  utterly  invisible  within  ten  paces.  But  the  columns 
marched  for  a  long  time  in  the  same  fog,  up  hill  and 
down  dale,  skirting  gardens  and  orchards,  along  by 
places  where  none  of  them  had  ever  been  before,  and 
still  they  found  no  enemy.  On  the  other  hand,  in  front 
3f  them,  behind  them,  on  all  sides  of  them,  the  soldiers 
were  made  conscious  that  our  Russian  columns  were  all 
marching  in  the  same  direction.  Each  soldier  felt  a 
thrill  at  the  heart  at  the  knowledge  that  many,  many 
others  of  our  men  were  going  where  he  was  going: 
that  is,  he  knew  not  whither. 

"  See  there !  The  Kursk  men  have  started,  '  said 
various  voices  in  the  ranks. 

''  Terrible  lot  of  our  troops  collected  here,  messmates ! 
'Last  evenin'  I  looked  around  when  the  fires  were  lit; 
couldn't  see  the  end  of  'em!  Like  Moscow,  in  one 
word  !  " 

Although  not  one  of  the  division  nachalmks  came 
near  the  ranks  or  had  anything  to  say  to  the  soldiers,  — 
the  division  nachalniks,  as  we  saw  in  the  council  of  war, 
were  out  of  sorts  and  dissatisfied  with  the  work  in  hand, 
and,  consequently,  merely  carried  out  the  general  orders 
and  did  nothing  to  inspirit  the  men,  — still  the  soldiers 
marched  on  cheerfully,  as  is  usually  the  case  when  they 
are  going  into  action,  and  particularly  into  offensive 
action. 

But  after  they  had  been  marching  for  about  an  hour, 
all  the  time  in  thick  fog,  they  were  ordered  to  halt, 
and  an  unpleasant  consciousness  of  disorder  and  con- 
fusion in  the  operations  spread  through  the  ranks.^  It 
would  be  very  difficult  to  explain  how  such  a  conscious- 
ness got  abroad  ;  but  there  was  no  doubt  that  it  was 
transmitted  and  spread  with  extraordinary  rapidity  :  the 
uncertainty  became  certainty,  gaining  with  irresistible 
force,  as  water  rushes  down  a  ravine.  If  the  Russian 
army  had  been  alone  by  itself,  without  allies,  then  possi- 
bly it  would  have  taken  much  longer  time  for  this  con- 
sciousness of  confusion  to  grow  into  a  general  certainty ; 


no  WAR    AND    PEACE 

but,  as  it  was,  all  took  a  natural  satisfaction  in  attributing 
the  cause  of  the  disorder  to  the  stupid  Germans,  and 
were  convinced  that  the  pernicious  snarl  was  due  to  the 
sausage-makers  ! 

"  Why  are  we  halting  ?  What?  Have  we  got  blocked  ? 
We  can't  have  come  afoul  of  the  French,  can  we  ? " 

"  No  !  We  should  have  heard  from  them.  They  'd 
have  begun  to  fire  at  us." 

''They  hurried  us  off  so,  and  now  here  we  are,  all 
in  a  muddle  in  the  middle  of  the  field  ;  that 's  the  way 
with  those  cursed  Germans  ;  they  muddle  everything  all 
up !  " 

''  What  stupid  devils  !  If  I  'd  had  anything  to  do  with 
them,  I  'd  have  put  'em  to  the  front.  But  instead,  you 
may  be  sure  of  that,  they  are  pressing  us  from  behind. 
And  here  we  are  without  having  anything  to  eat!  " 

"  Well,  I  wonder  if  we  shall  be  planted  here  all  day .? 
The  cavalry,  they  say,  is  what  is  blocking  the  road," 
exclaimed  an  officer. 

"  Ekh  !  these  damned  Germans  don't  know  their  own 
country,"  said  another. 

''  What  division  are  you  .? "  cried  an  aide,  riding  up  to 
them. 

"The  Eighteenth." 

*'  Then  why  are  you  here  ?  You  should  have  been 
at  the  front  long  since ;  you  won't  get  there  now  before 
afternoon." 

*'  Here  's  a  stupid  piece  of  confusion  ;  they  themselves 
don't  know  what  they  're  up  to,"  said  the  officer,  and 
he  rode  off. 

Then  a  general  passed,  and  angrily  shouted  some 
order  in  a  language  that  was  n't  Russian. 

"  Tafa-lafa  !  what  sort  of  stuff  is  he  jabbering.?  can't 
make  out  a  thing  he  says,"  remarked  a  soldier,  mimick- 
ing the  general  as  he  rode  off.  "  I  'd  have  had  them 
all  shot  down,  the  scoundrels  !  " 

*'We  were  ordered  to  be  in  position  by  nine  o'clock, 
and  now  we  have  not  got  half-way  there  !  What  stupid 
arrangements !  "  And  this  was  heard  on  all  sides,  and 
the  feeling  of  energetic  ardor  with  which  the  army  had 


WAR   AND    PEACE  in 

started  out,  began  to  be  wasted  in  vexation  and  anger 
against  the  arrangements  and  the  Germans. 

The  cause  of  the  confusion  was  this  :  after  the  Aus- 
trian cavalry  on  the  left  wing  had  set  forward,  those 
who  had  charge  of  it  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Russian  center  was  too  widely  separated  from  the  right, 
md  all  the  cavalry  was  commanded  to  cross  over  to  the 
right  side.  Several  thousands  of  cavalrymen  rode  across 
in  front  of  the  columns  of  infantry,  and  the  infantry  had 
to  wait  till  they  passed. 

At  the  front  a  dispute  had  risen  between  the  Austrian 
guide  and  a  Russian  general.  The  Russian  general 
shouted  angrily,  demanding  that  the  cavalry  should  stop. 
The  Austrian  insisted  that  he  was  not  to  blame,  but  his 
superior  officers.  Meantime  the  army  was  obliged  to 
halt,  and  was  growing  impatient  and  losing  spirit.  At 
last,  after  an  hour's  delay,  the  troops  began  to  move 
forward  once  more,  and  found  themselves  descending 
into  the  valley.  The  fog,  which  had  been  scattering  on 
the  heights,  was  as  thick  as  ever  on  the  lower  lands 
where  they  were  now  marching.  In  front  of  them  in 
the  fog,  one  shot,  then  a  second,  was  fired,  incoherently 
and  at  different  points,  tratta  tat ;  and  then  the  firing 
became  more  regular  and  rapid,  and  the  engagement 
fairly  began  over  the  brook  called  Holdbach. 

As  the  troops  had  no  expectation  of  falling  in  with  the 
enemy  so  far  down  in  the  valley  as  the  brook,  and  then 
met  them  unexpectedly  in  the  fog ;  as  they  had  no  words 
of  encouragement  from  their  commanding  officers,  and 
the  idea  was  widespread  among  them  that  it  was  too 
late ;  and,  moreover,  as  they  could  not  see  any  one  either 
in  front  of  them  or  anywhere  near  them,  owing  to  the 
density  of  the  fog,  they  apathetically  and  lazily  exchanged 
shots  with  the  enemy,  slowly  moved  forward,  and  then 
came  to  a  halt  again,  failing  to  receive  in  time  the  word 
of  command  from  their  officers  or  the  aides,  who  wandered 
at  haphazard  through  the  fog  in  places  with  which  they 
were  unacquainted,  and  in  search  of  their  own  divisions. 

Thus  began  the  action  for  the  first,  second,  and  third 
columns  which  had  gone  down  into  the  valley.     The 


112  WAR    AND    PEACE 

iourth  column,  which  Kutuzof  himself  had  under  his 
own  command,  was  stationed  on  the  heights  of  the 
Pratzer. 

In  the  lowlands,  where  the  battle  had  already  begun, 
the  fog  seemed  thicker  than  ever,  but  on  the  heights  it 
was  clear  ;  still  nothing  could  be  seen  of  what  was  going 
on  at  the  front  Until  nine  o'clock  no  one  could  tell 
whether  the  enemy  was  in  his  full  strength,  as  the  Rus- 
sians supposed,  ten  versts  in  advance,  or  was  down  there 
in  that  impenetrable  fog. 

It  was  now  nine  o'clock.  The  fog  like  a  fathomless 
sea  spread  over  the  valley,  but  on  the  height  in  front  of 
the  village  of  Schlapanitz  on  the  height,  where  Napo- 
leon stood  surrounded  by  his  marshals,  it  was  perfectly 
bright.  Over  them  was  the  blue  bright  heaven,  and  the 
mighty  sun,  like  a  gigantic,  hollow  purple  balloon,  was 
just  rising  above  the  milk-white  sea  of  fog.  The  French 
troops  and  Napoleon  himself  with  his  staff  were  not  on 
the  farther  side  of  the  brooks  and  the  hollows  of  Sokol- 
nitz  and  Schlapanitz  behind  which  we  had  expected  to 
take  up  our  position  and  begin  the  engagement,  but  they 
had  all  come  over  to  the  hither  side  and  were  so  near 
our  troops  that  Napoleon  with  his  naked  eye  could 
distinguish  in  our  army  a  horseman  from  an  infantry 
soldier. 

Napoleon,  mounted  on  his  little  gray  Arab  and  wear- 
ing the  same  blue  cloak  in  which  he  had  made  the  whole 
Italian  campaign,  was  standing  a  little  in  advance  of  his 
marshals.  He  was  silently  gazing  at  the  summits  of 
the  hills  that  emerged  like  islands  from  the  fog  and  was 
watching  the  Russian  troops  as  they  moved  along  in  the 
distance,  and  listening  to  the  sounds  of  firing  in  the 
valley.  Not  a  muscle  of  his  face  —  it  was  still  thin  — 
moved,  his  glittering  eyes  were  steadfastly  fixed  on  one 
spot.      His  anticipations  seemed  to  be  justified. 

The  Russian  troops  had  already  in  part  defiled  down 
into  the  ravine  toward  the  ponds  and  lakes,  and  part  of 
them  were  evacuating  the  heights  of  the  Pratzer,  which 
he  considered  the  key  of  the  situation  and  intended  to 
attack.     He  could  see,  through  the  fog,  how  down  into 


WAR   AND    PEACE  113 

the  hollow  formed  by  the  two  high  hills  near  the  village 
of  Pratz,  the  Russian  columns  with  glittering  bayonets 
were  steadily  moving  in  one  direction  toward  the  valley, 
and  disappearing  one  after  another  into  the  sea  of  fog. 
By  the  reports  which  had  been  brought  him  the  evening 
before,  by  the  sounds  of  wheels  and  footsteps  that  had 
been  heard  during  the  night  along  the  vanguard,  by  the 
disorderly  movements  of  the  Russian  columns,  by  all  the 
indications,  he  clearly  saw  in  fact  that  the  allied  armies 
supposed  him  to  be  posted  a  long  distance  from  them, 
that  the  columns  moving  near  in  the  vicinity  of  Pratz 
constituted  the  center  of  the  Russian  army,  and  that 
this  center  was  weak  enough  to  justify  him  in  giving  it 
attack. 

But  not  even  yet  did  he  begin  the  battle. 

That  was  a  solemn  day  for  him,  the  anniversary  of  his 
coronation.  Just  before  morning  he  had  taken  a  nap 
for  a  few  hours,  and  then  waking,  healthy,  jovial,  fresh, 
and  in  that  happy  frame  of  mind  in  which  everything 
seems  possible,  success  certain,  he  mounted  his  horse 
and  rode  out  into  the  field.  He  stood  motionless,  gazing 
at  the  hills  becoming  visible  through  the  fog,  and  into 
his  cold  face  there  came  that  peculiar  shade  of  self-con- 
fident, well-deserved  happiness,  such  as  is  sometimes 
seen  on  the  face  of  a  young  lad  who  is  happy  and  in  love. 

His  marshals  were  grouped  behind  him  and  did  not 
venture  to  distract  his  attention.  He  gazed  now  at  the 
heights  of  the  Pratzer,  now  at  the  sun  swimming  out 
from  the  fog. 

When  the  sun  had  risen  clear  above  the  fog,  and  his 
dazzling  radiance  gushed  over  the  fields  and  the  fog,  as 
if  this  were  the  signal  for  which  he  was  waiting  to  begin 
the  affair,  he  drew  off  his  glove  from  his  handsome  white 
hand,  beckoned  his  marshals,  and  gave  the  order  for 
beginning  the  battle.  The  marshals,  accompanied  by 
their  aides,  galloped  off  in  different  directions,  and 
within  a  few  minutes  the  chief  forces  of  the  French 
army  were  in  rapid  motion  toward  those  same  heights 
of  the  Pratzer  which  the  Russian  troops  were  abandoning 
more  and  more  as  they  filed  to  the  left  and  into  the  vale. 


114  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   XV 


At  eight  o'clock  that  morning,  Kutuzof  had  ridden 
up  toward  the  Pratzer,  at  the  head  of  the  fourth  division, 
—  Miloradovitch's,  —  which  was  to  take  the  place  of  the 
columns  of  Prsczebiszhewsky  and  De  Langeron,  which 
were  now  on  their  way  down  into  the  valley.  He  greeted 
the  men  of  the  foremost  regiment  and  gave  the  word  of 
command,  thereby  signifying  that  he  intended  to  lead 
that  column  in  person.  When  he  reached  the  village 
of  Pratz,  he  halted.  Prince  Andrei,  forming  one  of  his 
large  staff,  stood  just  behind  him.  Prince  Andrer  felt 
stirred  and  excited,  and  at  the  same  time  self-confident 
and  calm,  as  is  apt  to  be  the  case  with  a  man  at  the 
arrival  of  the  moment  which  he  has  been  anxiously 
awaiting.  He  was  firmly  convinced  that  this  day  was 
to  be  his  Toulon,  or  his  bridge  of  Areola.^ 

How  it  would  come  about  he  had  not  the  faintest  idea, 
but  he  was  firmly  convinced  that  it  would  be.  The  lay 
of  the  land  and  the  position  of  our  forces  were  well 
known  to  him,  so  far  as  they  could  be  known  to  any 
one  in  the  Russian  army.  His  own  strategical  plan, 
which  now  seemed  to  be  doomed  never  to  be  carried 
into  effect,  had  been  forgotten.  Having  made  himself 
master  of  Weirother's  scheme,  Prince  Andrei  wondered 
what  possibilities  might  rise  before  him.  and  began  to 
make  new  combinations  according  to  which  his  presence 
of  mind  and  firmness  might  be  called  into  request. 

Toward  the  left,  in  the  valley  below,  where  the  fog 
lay,  could  be  heard  the  musket  fires  of  the  unseen 
opponents.  There,  so  it  seemed  to  Prince  AndreY,  the 
fighting  would  be  hottest,  there  the  obstacles  would  be 
met  with  ;  ''  and  there  I  shall  be  sent,"  he  said  to  him- 
self, "with  a  brigade  or  division,  and  with  the  standard 
in  my  hand,  I  shall  rush  on  and  conquer  everything 
before  me." 

Prince  Andrei  could  not  look  at  the  standards  of  the 

■■•  The  desperate  battle  by  which  Napoleon  became  master  of  Italy, 
November  14-17,  1796. 


WAR    AND    PEACE 


"5 


battalions  passing  before  him  without  a  thrill.  As  he 
looked  at  one  he  kept  saying  to  himself:  ''  Maybe  that 
is  the  very  standard  that  I  shall  seize  when  I  lead  the 
army  to  the  front !  " 

The  nocturnal  fog  now  remained  on  the  heights  only 
in  the  form  of  hoar  frost,  which  was  rapidly  changing 
into  dew;  in  the  hollows,  however,  it  still  spread  out 
like  a  milk-white  sea.  Nothing  could  be  discerned  in 
that  fog  toward  the  left,  where  our  troops  were  descend- 
ing, and  where  the  musketry  firing  was  heard.  Over 
the  heights  stretched  the  clear,  bright  sky,  and  at  the 
right  hung  the  monstrous  orb  of  the  sun.  Far  away, 
toward  the  front,  on  the  other  shore  of  the  sea  of  fog, 
could  be  seen  high  wooded  hills,  on  which  the  enemy 
must  be  stationed,  and  there  some  objects  could  be  dis- 
tinguished. 

At  the  right,  the  Guards,  with  echoing  tramp,  and 
rattling  wheels,  and  occasionally  the  glint  of  bayonets, 
were  passing  down  into  the  dominion  of  the  fog.  At 
the  left,  beyond  the  village,  similar  masses  of  cavalry 
were  filing  down  and  disappearing  from  view  in  the  sea 
of  fog. 

In  front,  and  behind,  the  infantry  were  debouch- 
ing. 

The  commander-in-chief  stationed  himself  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  village,  and  allowed  the  troops  to  file  past 
him.  Kutuzof  that  morning  appeared  fatigued  and 
irritated.  The  infantry,  filing  by  him,  came  to  a  halt 
without  any  orders,  apparently  because  they  had  come 
in  contact  with  some  obstacle  ahead  of  them. 

"  Go  and  tell  them  to  form  into  battalions  and  get 
outside  the  village,"  said  Kutuzof  to  a  general  who  came 
riding  along.  "  How  is  it,  you  do  not  understand,  your 
excellency,  my  dear  sir,^  that  it's  impossible  to  open 
ranks  so,  along  a  village  street,  when  we  are  moving 
against  the  enemy  ?  " 

"I  proposed  to  form  behind  the  village,  your  emi- 
nence," replied  the  general. 

Kutuzof  gave  him  a  saturnine  smile. 

1  "  Vdshe  p7-ivoshhodilchtvo,  tiiilostivm  gosuddr."" 


ii6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  You  'd  be  in  a  fine  condition,  deploying  your  front  in 
presence  of  the  enemy;  very  fine  idea!" 

**  The  enemy  are  still  a  long  way  off,  your  eminence. 
According  to  the  plan...." 

**The  plan  !  "  cried  Kutuzof,  bitterly,  '*  and  who  told 
you  that.''     Be  good  enough  to  do  as  I  bid  you." 

"  I  obey." 

"  My  dear,"  whispered  Nesvitsky  to  Prince  Andre'f, 
*'the  old  man  is  as  surly  as  a  dog." 

An  Austrian  officer,  in  a  white  uniform,  with  a  green 
plume  in  his  hat,  galloped  up  to  Kutuzof,  and  asked 
him,  in  the  name  of  the  emperor,  if  the  fourth  column 
was  taking  part  in  the  action. 

Kutuzof,  without  answering  him,  turned  around,  and 
his  glance  fell  accidentally  on  Prince  Andrei",  who  was 
stationed  near  him.  When  he  noticed  Bolkonsky,  the 
vicious  and  acrimonious  expression  of  his  face  softened, 
as  if  to  signify  that  he  was  not  to  blame  for  what  was 
taking  place.  And  still  without  answering  the  Austrian 
aide,  he  turned  to  Bolkonsky,  and  said  in  French:  *' Go 
and  see,  my  dear,  if  the  third  division  has  passed  the 
village  yet;  command  them  to  halt  and  await  my 
orders." 

As  soon  as  Prince  AndreY  started,  he  called  him 
back :  — 

"And  ask  if  the  skirmishers  are  posted,  and  what 
thty  are  doing.  What  they  are  doing,"  he  repeated  to 
himself,  still  paying  no  attention  to  the  Austrian. 

Prince  Andrei  galloped  off  to  execute  this  order. 

Outstripping  the  battalions,  which  were  all  the  times 
pressing  forward,  he  halted  the  third  division,  and  con- 
vinced himself  that  no  skirmishers  had  been  thrown  out 
in  front  of  our  columns.  The  general  in  command  of 
the  foremost  regiment  was  greatly  amazed  at  the  order 
from  the  commander-in-chief  to  throw  out  sharp-shooters. 
The  regimental  commander  was  firmly  assured  in  his 
own  mind  that  other  troops  were  in  front  of  him  and 
that  the  enemy  could  not  be  less  than  ten  versts  distant. 
In  reality,  nothing  could  be  discerned  in  front  of  them 
except   waste    ground   which    sloped    down,    and    was 


WAR   AND    PEACE  117 

shrouded  in  fog.  After  giving  him  the  commander-in- 
chief's  orders  to  repair  his  neghgence,  Prince  Andrei 
galloped  back.  Kutuzof  was  still  in  the  same  place,  and 
with  his  fat  body  sitting  in  a  dumpy  position  in  his 
saddle  was  yawning  heavily,  with  his  eyes  closed.  The 
troops  had  not  yet  moved,  but  stood  with  grounded  arms. 

*'  Good,  very  good,"  said  he  to  Prince  Andrei,  and 
turned  to  the  general,  who,  holding  his  watch  in  his 
hand,  said  that  it  must  be  time  to  move,  since  all  the 
columns  had  already  gone  down  from  the  left  wing. 

"  Time  enough,  your  excellency,"  said  Kutuzof.  *'  We 
shall  have  time  enough,"  he  repeated. 

At  this  time,  behind  Kutuzof,  were  heard  the  sounds 
of  the  regiments  in  the  distance  cheering,  and  these 
voices  quickly  ran  along  the  whole'  extent  of  the  line  of 
the  Russian  columns  under  march. 

It  was  evident  that  the  one  whom  they  were  greet- 
ing was  approaching  rapidly.  When  the  soldiers  of 
the  regiment  at  whose  head  Kutuzof  was  stationed  be- 
gan to  cheer,  he  rode  a  little  to  one  side  and  glanced 
around  with  a  frown.  Along  the  road  from  Pratz 
came  what  appeared  to  be  a  squadron  of  gay-colored 
horsemen.  Two  of  them  at  a  round  gallop  rode  side 
by  side  ahead  of  the  others.  One  was  in  a  black  uni- 
form with  a  white  plume,  on  a  chestnut  horse  groomed 
in  the  English  style ;  the  other  in  a  white  uniform  on  a 
coal-black  steed.  These  were  the  two  emperors  with 
their  suite. 

Kutuzof,  with  an  affectation  of  "  the  thorough  soldier  " 
found  at  his  post,  shouted  "  Smimo,  Eyes  front,"  to 
the  soldiers  halting  near  him,  and  saluting  rode 
toward  the  emperor.  His  whole  figure  and  manner  had 
suddenly  undergone  a  change.  He  had  assumed  the 
mien  of  a  subordinate,  of  a  man  ready  to  surrender  his 
own  will.  With  an  affectation  of  deference  which 
evidently  was  not  pleasing  to  the  Emperor  Alexander, 
he  came  to  meet  him  and  saluted  him. 

This  impression  crossed  the  young  and  happy  face  of 
the  emperor,  and  disappeared  like  the  mist  wreaths  in 
the  clear  sky.     After  his  indisposition  he  was  a  trifle 


ii8  WAR    AND    PEACE 

thinner  that  day  than  he  had  been  on  the  field  of 
Olmlitz  where  Bolkonsky  had  for  the  first  time  seen 
him  abroad.  There  was  the  same  enchanting  union  of 
majesty  and  sweetness  in  his  beautiful  gray  eyes,  and 
on  his  thin  lips  the  same  possibility  of  varied  feelings, 
and  the  same  predominating  expression  of  beneficent, 
innocent  youth. 

At  the  review  at  Olmiitz  he  had  been  more  majestic ; 
here  he  was  happier  and  more  full  of  energy.  His 
face  was  a  trifle  flushed  after  his  gallop  of  three  versts, 
and  as  he  reined  in  his  horse  he  drew  a  long  breath 
and  glanced  around  into  the  faces  of  his  suite,  all  young 
men  like  himself,  and  like  himself  all  full  of  life.  Czar- 
torisky  and  Novosiltsof  and  Prince  Volkonsky  and 
Stroganof  and  many  others,  all  richly  dressed,  jovial 
young  men  on  handsome,  well-groomed,  fresh-looking 
and  slightly  sweating  horses,  chatting  and  laughing 
together,  formed  a  group  behind  the  sovereign. 

The  Emperor  Franz,  a  florid  young  man  with  a  long 
face,  sat  bolt  upright  in  his  saddle  on  his  handsome 
black  stallion,  and  slowly  glanced  around  him  with  an 
anxious  expression.  He  beckoned  to  one  of  his  white- 
uniformed  aides  and  asked  him  some  question.  **  Proba- 
bly he  asked  at  what  hour  they  started,"  thought  Prince 
Andrei,  gazing  at  his  old  acquaintance  with  a  smile 
which  he  could  not  repress  at  the  thought  of  his  audi- 
ence. The  emperors'  suite  was  composed  of  young 
orderlies,  Austrian  and  Russian,  selected  from  the 
regiments  of  the  Guards  and  of  the  Line.  Grooms 
had  brought  with  them  handsome  reserve  horses  in  em- 
broidered caparisons  for  the  emperors. 

Just  as  when  a  fresh  breeze  from  the  fields  breathes 
through  an  open  window  into  a  stuffy  chamber,  so  these 
brilliant  young  men  brought  with  them  to  Kutuzof's 
dispirited  staff  the  sense  of  youth  and  energy  and  con- 
fidence in  victory. 

"Why  don't  you  begin,  Mikhail  Larionovitch  .^ "  im- 
patiently demanded  the  Emperor  Alexander,  turning  to 
Kutuzof,  at  the  same  time  looking  courteously  toward 
the  Emperor  Franz. 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


119 


"I  was  waiting,  your  majesty,"  replied  Kutuzof,  def- 
erentially bowing  low.  The  emperor  leaned  toward 
him,  frowning  slightly,  and  giving  him  to  understand 
that  he  did  not  hear. 

'*  I  was  waiting,  your  majesty,"  repeated  Kutuzof, 
and  Prince  Andrei  noticed  that  Kutuzof's  upper  lip 
curled  unnaturally  when  he  repeated  the  words,  "  I  was 
waiting."  —  "The  columns  have  not  all  assembled, 
your  majesty." 

The  sovereign  heard,  but  the  answer  evidently  dis- 
pleased him;  he  shrugged  his  drooping  shoulders, 
glanced  at  Novosiltsof,  who  was  standing  near  him,  and 
his  glance  seemed  to  imply  a  certain  compassion  for 
Kutuzof. 

"  We  are  not  on  the  Empress's  Field,  Mikhail  Lari- 
onovitch,  where  the  review  is  not  begun  until  all  the 
regiments  are  present,"  said  the  emperor,  again  glanc- 
ing into  the  Emperor  Franz's  eyes,  as  if  to  ask  him  if 
he  would  not  take  part  so  that  he  might  listen  to  what 
he  might  say  ;  but  the  Emperor  Franz,  who  was  still 
gazing  about,  did  not  heed  him. 

"  That 's  the  very  reason  I  do  not  begin,  sire,"  said 
Kutuzof,  in  a  ringing  voice,  seeming  to  anticipate  the 
possibility  that  the  emperor  might  not  see  fit  to  hear 
him,  and  again  a  peculiar  look  passed  over  his  face. 
"  That 's  the  very  reason  that  I  do  not  begin,  sire,  be- 
cause we  are  not  on  parade  and  not  on  the  Empress's 
Field,"  he  repeated,  clearly  and  distinctly. 

The  faces  of  all  those  composing  the  emperor's  suite 
expressed  annoyance  and  reproach,  as  they  hastily  ex- 
changed glances  on  hearing  these  words.  *  No  matter 
if  he  is  old,  he  ought  not,  he  never  ought  to  speak  in 
that  way,'  the  faces  seemed  to  say. 

"  However,  if  you  give  the  order,  your  majesty,"  said 
Kutuzof,  raising  his  head  and  again  assuming  that 
former  tone  of  a  general  ready  to  listen  to  orders  and  to 
obey.  He  turned  his  horse,  and  beckoning  to  Division- 
Commander  Miloradovitch  he  gave  him  the  order  to 
attack. 

The  troops  were  again  set  in  motion,  and  two  bat- 


I20  WAR    AND    PEACE 

talions  of  the  Novgorodsky  regiment  and  one  battalion 
of  the  Apsheron  regiment  filed  forward  past  the  em- 
peror. While  this  Apsheron  battalion  was  passing, 
the  florid  Miloradovitch,  without  his  cloak  and  with  his 
uniform  covered  with  orders,  and  his  hat  decorated  with 
an  immense  plume  and  set  on  one  side  with  the  point 
forward,  galloped  forward  and  gallantly  saluting  reined 
in  his  horse  in  front  of  the  sovereign. 

"  5  Bogom,  God  be  with  you,  general,"  exclaimed  the 
emperor. 

**  Faith,  we  will  do  our  best,  your  majesty,"  replied 
the  other,  cheerily ;  nevertheless  the  gentlemen  of  the 
suite  could  not  refrain  from  smiling  contemptuously 
at  the  execrable  way  in  which  he  pronounced  his 
French. 

Miloradovitch  turned  his  horse  sharply  round  and 
remained  a  short  distance  behind  the  emperor.  The 
Apsheron  boys,  inspirited  by  the  presence  of  their  sov- 
ereign, marched  by  the  emperors  and  their  suite  with 
lively,  gallant  strides,  keeping  perfect  time. 

'*  Children  !  "  cried  Miloradovitch  in  a  loud,  self-confi- 
dent, and  cheering  voice,  evidently  roused  by  the  sounds 
of  the  firing,  the  expectation  of  the  battle,  and  the  sight 
of  the  Apsheron  soldiers,  who  had  been  his  comrades  in 
the  campaigns  with  Suvorof,  and  were  now  briskly 
marching  past  the  emperors,  and  roused  to  such  a  pitch 
that  he  forgot  that  the  sovereign  was  present :  "  Chil- 
dren !  this  is  not  the  first  village  chat  you  have  had  to 
take,"  he  cried. 

''We'll  do  our  best,"  cried  the  soldiers.  The  em- 
peror's mare  started  at  the  unexpected  shout.  This 
mare  which  the  emperor  had  ridden  before  during  other 
reviews  in  Russia,  here  on  the  battle-field  ^of  Austerlitz 
carried  her  rider,  not  noticing  the  captious  thr  ists  of  his 
left  heel,  pricking  up  her  ears  at  the  sound  of  the  mus- 
ketry firing,  just  as  she  did  on  the  Field  of  Mars,^  not 
realizing  the  significance  of  those  reechoing  volleys,  nor 
of  the  neighborhood  of  the  Emperor  Franz's  black  stal- 

^  The  Tsdriisuin  Lug,  Tsaritsa  or  Empress's  Field  is  also  called  Marso 
voye  pdle. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  121 

lion,"  nor  of  what  the  man  who  on  that  day  sat  upon  her 
back  said,  thought,  felt. 

The  sovereign  with  a  smile  turned  to  one  of  his  imme- 
diate suite  and  pointing  to  the  Apsheron  lads  made  some 
remark. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

KuTUzoF,  accompanied  by  his  aides,  rode  slowly  after 
the  carabiniers.  After  riding  half  a  verst,  he  caught  up 
with  the  rear  end  of  the  column,  and  halted  at  a  sin- 
gle deserted  house  —  it  had  apparently  been  a  drinking 
house  —  near  the  junction  of  two  roads.  Both  roads 
led  down  into  the  valley,  and  both  were  crowded  with 
troops. 

The  fog  began  to  disperse  and  already,  two  versts 
away,  could  be  seen,  though  as  yet  indistinctly,  the 
ranks  of  the  enemy  on  the  heights  opposite.  Down  in 
the  valley  at  the  left,  the  firing  was  growing  more  vio- 
lent. Kutuzof  halted,  discussing  some  point  with  the 
Austrian  general.  Prince  Andrei,  sitting  on  his  horse 
a  little  distance  behind,  gazed  at  them,  and  then,  wishing 
to  obtain  the  use  of  a  field-glass,  turned  to  one  of  the 
aides  who  had  one. 

*'  Look !  look !  "  exclaimed  this  aide,  turning  his 
glass  not  at  the  distant  host,  but  to  the  hill  nearly  in 
front  of  them,  **  look,  there  are  the  French  !  " 

The  two  generals  and  the  adjutants  reached  after  the 
glass,  one  taking  it  from  the  other.  All  the  faces  sud- 
denly changed,  and  an  expression  of  dismay  came  into 
them. 

They  expected  to  find  the  French  two  versts  away, 
and  ther^.j.they  were  unexpectedly  appearing  right  at 
hand. 

"  Is  that  the  enemy  .?  "  ....  *'  It  can't  be  !  "  ....  "  Yes, 
look,  they  ....  "  "  Certainly  it  is."  ....  ''  What  does  it 
mean  .? "  exclaimed  various  voices. 

Prince  Andrei  with  his  naked  eye  could  see  a  dense 
mass  of  the  French  moving  up  at  the  right  to  meet  the 


122  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Apsheron  boys,  not  more  than  five  hundred  paces  from 
the  very  spot  where  Kutuzof  was  standing. 

''Here  it  is!  the  decisive  moment  is  at  hand!  my 
chance  has  come !  "  said  Prince  Andref,  and  starting  up 
his  horse  he  approached  Kutuzof.  **  The  Apsheron  men 
ought  to  be  halted,  your  eminence,"  he  cried. 

But  at  that  very  instant  all  became  veiled  in  smoke ; 
the  rattle  of  musketry  sounded  near  them,  and  a  nafvely 
terrified  voice  only  two  steps  from  Prince  Andreif  cried : 
"  Well,  brothers,  it 's  all  up  with  us ! "  and  this  voice 
seemed  to  be  a  command.  At  this  voice  all  started  to 
run. 

Confused  but  still  constantly  increasing  throngs  ran 
back  by  the  very  same  place  where  five  minutes  before 
the  troops  had  filed  so  proudly  past  the  emperors.  Not 
only  was  it  hard  to  arrest  these  fugitives,  but  it  was  even 
impossible  not  to  be  borne  back  by  the  mob.  Bolkonsky 
could  only  struggle  not  to  let  them  pass  him,  and  he 
gazed  around,  finding  it  quite  out  of  the  question  to 
understand  what  was  taking  place  at  the  front.  Nes- 
vitsky,  with  angry  face,  flushed  and  quite  unlike  him- 
self, cried  to  Kutuzof  that  if  he  did  not  instantly  come 
away,  he  would  be  probably  taken  prisoner.  Kutuzof 
still  stayed  in  the  same  place,  and  without  answering 
took  out  his  handkerchief.  A  stream  of  blood  was 
trickling  from  his  face.  Prince  Andrei  forced  his  way 
through  to  where  he  was. 

"You  are  wounded.?"  he  asked,  scarcely  controlling 
the  trembling  of  his  lower  jaw. 

*'  The  wound  is  not  here,  but  yonder,"  said  Kutuzof, 
pressing  his  handkerchief  to  his  wounded  cheek,  and 
pointing  to  the  fugitives.  "  Halt  them  !  "  he  cried,  and 
at  the  same  time,  evidently  convinced  that  it  was  an 
impossibility  to  bring  them  to  a  hal!,  he  gave  spurs  to 
his  horse  and  rode  off  to  the  right.  New  masses  of 
fugitives  came  pouring  along  like  a  torrent,  engulfed 
him,  and  bore  him  along  with  them. 

The  troops  were  pouring  back  in  such  a  dense  throng, 
that  when  one  was  once  entangled  in  the  midst  of  it, 
there  was  great  difficulty  in  extricating  one's  self.    Some 


WAR   AND    PEACE  123 

shouted  :  "  He  's  coming,  why  don't  you  let  him  pass  ?  " 
Others  turned  around  and  fired  their  muskets  into  the 
air ;  others  struck  the  horse  on  which  Kutuzof  rode,  bu.t 
by  the  exercise  of  supreme  force  Kutuzof  —  accom- 
panied by  his  staff,  diminished  by  more  than  half  -• 
struggled  through  to  the  left  and  rode  off  in  the  direc- 
tion of  cannonading  heard  not  far  away. 

Prince  Andrei,  also  forcing  his  way  through  the 
throng  of  fugitives  and  endeavoring  not  to  become  sepa- 
rated from  Kutuzof,  could  make  out  through  the  reek  of 
gunpowder  smoke  a  Russian  battery  on  the  side  of  the 
hill,  still  blazing  away  vigorously,  while  the  French 
were  just  marching  against  it.  A  little  higher  up  stood 
the  Russian  infantry,  neither  moving  forward  to  the  aid 
of  the  battery,  nor  back  in  the  same  direction  with  the 
fugitives.  A  general  spurred  down  from  this  brigade 
of  infantry  and  approached  Kutuzof.  Out  of  Kutuzof's 
staff  only  four  men  were  left,  and  all  were  pale  and 
silently  exchanged  glances. 

"  Stop  those  poltroons  !  "  cried  Kutuzof,  all  out  of 
breath,  as  the  regimental  commander  came  up  to  him, 
and  pointing  to  the  fugitives ;  but  at  that  very  second, 
as  if  for  a  punishment  for  those  words,  like  a  bevy  of 
birds  a  number  of  bullets  flew  buzzing  over  the  heads  of 
the  regiment  and  of  Kutuzof's  staff.  The  French  were 
charging  the  battery,  and  when  they  caught  sight  of 
Kutuzof  they  aimed  at  him. 

At  this  volley,  the  regimental  commander  suddenly 
clapped  his  hand  to  his  leg ;  a  few  soldiers  fell,  and  an 
ensign  standing  with  the  flag  dropped  it  from  his  hand ; 
the  flag  reeled  and  fell,  catching  on  the  bayonets  of  the 
soldiers  near  him.  The  men  began  to  load  and  fire 
without  orders. 

"  O-o-o-okh !  "  groaned  Kutuzof,  with  an  expression 
of  despair,  and  glanced  around.  '*  Bolkonsky,"  he 
whispered,  his  weak  old  man's  voice  trembling  with 
emotion,  "  Bolkonsky !  "  he  whispered,  pointing  to  the 
demoralized  battalion  and  at  the  enemy,  "what  does 
this  mean  ? " 

But  before  he  had  uttered  these  words,  Prince  Andrelf, 


124  WAR    AND    PEACE 

conscious  of  the  tears  of  shame  and  anger  choking  him, 
had  already  leaped  from  his  horse  and  rushed  toward 
the  standard. 

"  Children,  follow  me !  "  he  cried  in  his  youthfully 
penetrating  voice.  "  Here  it  is,"  thought  Prince  Andref, 
as  he  seized  the  flagstaff ;  and  he  listened  with  rapture 
to  the  whizz  of  the  bullets  that  were  evidently  directed 
straight  at  him.     A  number  of  the  soldiers  fell. 

"  Hurrah  !  "  cried  Prince  Andrei",  instantly  seizing  the 
flag  and  rushing  forward  with  unfailing  confidence  that 
the  whole  battalion  would  follow  him. 

In  fact  he  ran  on  only  a  few  steps  alone.  Then 
one  soldier  was  stirred,  and  then  another,  and  the 
whole  battalion  with  huzzas  dashed  forward  and  over- 
took him.  A  non-commissioned  officer  of  the  bat- 
talion, darting  up  to  him,  seized  the  standard,  which 
from  its  weight  shook  in  Prince  Andrew's  hand,  but  he 
was  instantly  shot  down.  Prince  Andrei  again  grasped 
the  flag  and,  dragging  it  along  by  the  staff,  hurried  on 
with  the  battalion. 

In  front  of  him  he  saw  our  artillerymen,  some  fight- 
ing, others  abandoning  the  guns  and  running  toward 
him ;  he  also  saw  the  French  infantry,  who  had  seized 
the  artillery  horses,  and  were  reversing  the  field-pieces. 

Prince  Andrei  and  the  battalion  were  now  only  twenty 
paces  distant  from  the  battery.  He  heard  the  incessant 
ping  of  the  bullets  over  his  head,  and  the  soldiers  con- 
stantly groaning  and  faUing  at  his  left  hand  and  at  his 
right.  But  he  did  not  look  at  them  ;  his  eyes  were  fas- 
tened only  on  what  was  going  on  in  front  of  him,  where 
the  battery  was.  He  now  saw  distinctly  the  figure  of 
a  red-headed  artilleryman,  with  his  shako  half  knocked 
off,  and  dragging  with  him  an  artillery  sponge,  while  a 
French  soldier  was  trying  to  pull  it  away  from  him. 
Prince  Andrei  distinguished  clearly  the  distorted  and 
angry  faces  of  these  two  men,  who  evidently  were  not 
aware  of  what  they  were  doing. 

"  What  are  they  up  to } "  queried  Prince  Andrei,  as 
he  looked  at  them.  "  Why  does  n't  the  red-headed 
artillerist  run,  if  he  has  no  weapons,  and  why  does  n't 


WAR   AND    PEACE  125 

the  Frenchman  finish  him  ?  He  would  n't  have  time 
to  get  any  distance,  though,  before  the  Frenchman 
would  recollect  his  musket,  and  put  an  end  to  him." 

In  point  of  fact  another  Frenchman,  clubbing  his 
musket,  ran  up  to  the  combatants,  and  the  fate  of  the 
red-headed  artillerist,  who  had  no  idea  of  what  was 
coming  upon  him,  and  had  just  triumphantly  made  him- 
self master  of  the  sponge,  must  have  been  sealed.  But 
Prince  AndreY  did  not  witness  the  end  of  the  struggle. 
It  seemed  to  him  that  one  of  the  approaching  soldiers 
struck  him  in  the  head  with  the  full  weight  of  a  heavy 
cudgel.  It  was  rather  painful,  but  his  chief  sensation 
was  that  of  displeasure  because  this  pain  distracted  his 
attention  and  prevented  him  from  seeing  what  he  had 
been  looking  at. 

**  What  does  this  mean  ?  Am  I  falling  ?  Surely  my 
legs  are  giving  way,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  he  fell  on 
his  back.  He  opened  his  eyes,  hoping  to  see  how  the 
struggle  between  the  artilleryman  and  the  Frenchman 
ended,  and  anxious  to  know  whether  the  red-headed 
artillerist  was  killed  or  not,  and  the  cannon  saved  or 
captured.  But  he  could  see  nothing  of  it.  Over  him 
he  could  see  only  the  sky,  the  lofty  sky ;  not  clear,  but 
still  immeasurably  lofty,  and  with  light  gray  clouds 
slowly  wandering  over  it. 

"  How  still,  calm,  and  solemn  !  How  entirely  differ- 
ent from  when  I  was  running,"  said  Prince  Andrei  to 
himself.  "  It  was  not  so  when  we  were  all  running,  and 
shouting,  and  fighting ;  how  entirely  different  it  is  from 
when  the  Frenchman  and  the  artilleryman,  with  vindic- 
tive and  frightened  faces,  were  struggling  for  posses- 
sion of  the  sponge  :  the  clouds  then  were  not  floating 
over  those  infinite  depths  of  sky  as  they  are  now.  How 
is  it  that  I  never  before  saw  this  lofty  sky  ?  and  how 
glad  I  am  that  I  have  learned  to  know  it  at  last !  Yes  ! 
all  is  empty,  all  is  deception,  except  these  infinite  heav- 
ens. Nothing,  nothing  at  all  besides !  And  even  that 
^.s  nothing  but  silence  and  peace  !    And  glory  to  God ! .... " 


126  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   XVII 

At  nine  o'clock  the  right  wing,  under  Bagration,  had 
not  as  yet  begun  to  fight.  UnwilHng  to  acquiesce  in 
Dclgorukof  s  urgency  to  begin  the  battle,  and  anxious 
to  escape  the  responsibility.  Prince  Bagration  proposed 
to  the  latter  to  send  and  make  inquiries  ot  the  com- 
mander-in-chief. Bagration  knew  that,  as  the  distance 
separating  the  two  wings  was  almost  ten  versts,  the 
messenger,  if  he  were  not  killed,  which  was  very  proba- 
ble, and  even  if  he  found  the  commander-in-chief,  which 
would  be  extremely  difficult,  would  not  have  time  to  re- 
turn till  late  in  the  afternoon. 

Bagration  glanced  over  his  staff  with  his  great, 
expressionless,  sleepy  eyes,  and  was  involuntarily 
attracted  by  Rostof's  boyish  face,  full  of  excitement 
and  hope.     He  chose  him  for  the  messenger. 

'*  And  if  I  should  meet  his  majesty  first,  before  I 
found  the  commander-in-chief,  your  illustriousness } " 
asked  Rostof,  touching  his  cap  visor. 

"  You  can  give  the  message  to  his  majesty,"  said  Dol- 
gorukof,  taking  the  words  out  of  Bagration's  mouth. 

After  he  was  relieved  at  the  outposts,  Rostof  had 
been  able  to  catch  a  few  hours'  sleep  before  morning, 
and  felt  happy,  daring,  and  resolute,  with  that  elastic- 
ity of  motion  and  confidence  in  his  own  good  fortune, 
and  in  that  state  of  mind,  when  everything  seems  easy, 
bright,  and  possible. 

All  his  desires  had  been  fulfilled  that  morning :  a 
general  engagement  was  to  be  fought ;  he  was  to  take 
part  in  it ;  moreover,  he  had  been  made  orderly  on  the 
staff  of  one  of  the  bravest  generals ;  nay,  more,  he  was 
intrusted  with  a  message  to  Kutuzof,  and  might  have 
to  deliver  it  to  the  sovereign  himself ! 

The  morning  was  clear  and  bright ;  the  horse  he 
rode  was  excellent.  His  heart  was  full  of  joy  and 
courage.  Having  received  his  instructions,  he  struck 
in  the  spurs  and  galloped  off  along  the  line.  At  first, 
he   passed    in   front  of    Bagration's  forces,  which  had 


WAR   AND    PEACE  127 

not  as  yet  engaged,  and  were  ranged  in  motionless 
ranks.  Then  he  rode  into  the  space  occupied  by 
Uvarof's  cavalry,  and  here  he  began  to  remark  some 
excitement  and  indications  of  readiness  for  battle ;  after 
passing  Uvarof's  cavalry  he  began  to  distinguish  clearly 
the  sounds  of  cannonading  and  musketry  in  front  of 
him.     The  firing  kept  growing  more  violent. 

In  the  fresh,  clear  morning  air  the  sound  of  the 
firing  was  no  longer,  as  at  first,  desultory  at  irregular 
intervals,  two  or  three  shots  at  a  time,  and  then  one 
or  two  cannon  shots ;  but  along  the  declivities  of  the 
hills  in  front  of  Pratzer  was  heard  the  crackling  of 
musketry,  dominated  by  such  frequent  reports  from 
the  heavy  guns,  that  often  a  number  of  them  could 
not  be  distinguished  apart,  but  mingled  in  one  general 
thunderous  roar. 

It  could  be  seen  how,  over  the  mountain  side,  the 
puffs  of  smoke  from  the  muskets  seemed  to  run  along, 
chasing  one  another,  and  how  the  great  clouds  of 
smoke  from  the  cannon  rolled  whirling  up,  spread  and 
mingled  in  the  air.  By  the  glint  of  bayonets  through 
the  smoke,  the  masses  of  infantry  could  be  seen  mov- 
ing along,  and  the  narrow  ribbons  of  artillery  with 
their  green  caissons. 

Rostof  reined  in  his  horse  on  a  hilltop  for  a  moment, 
in  order  to  watch  what  was  going  on  ;  but  in  spite  of 
the  closeness  of  his  scrutiny,  he  could  not  make  out  or 
decide  for  himself  from  what  he  saw  what  men  were 
moving  in  the  smoke,  or  what  bodies  of  the  troops  were 
hurrying  this  way  and  that,  back  and  forth. 

*'  But  why  ?  Who  are  they  .'*  Where  are  they  go- 
ing.?"    It  was  impossible  to  tell. 

This  spectacle  did  not  arouse  in  him  any  melancholy 
or  timid  feelings ;  on  the  contrary  they  filled  him  with 
new  energy  and  zeal. 

"Well,  then,  give  it  to  them  again!"  said  he,  men- 
tally replying  to  these  sounds,  and  again  he  started  on 
a  gallop  along  the  lines,  making  his  way  farther  and 
farther  within  the  domain  of  the  troops  already  now 
entering  into  the  action. 


128  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  How  this  is  going  to  turn  out  yonder  I  do  not 
know,  but  it  will  be  all  right !  "  thought  Rostof. 

Having  passed  by  some  of  the  troops  of  the  Aus- 
trian  army,  Rostof  noticed  that  the  portion  of  the  Line 
next  —  they  were  the  Guards  —  were  already  moving 
to  the  attack. 

"  So  much  the  better,  I  can  see  it  close  at  hand !  " 
he  said  to  himself. 

He  was  now  riding  along  almost  at  the  very  front. 
A  number  of  horsemen  were  galloping  in  his  direction. 
These  were  our  Leib-Uhlans,  who,  with  broken  and 
disorderly  ranks,  were  returning  from  the  charge.  Ros- 
tof passed  them  and  could  not  help  noticing  that  one 
of  them  was  covered  with  blood,  but  he  galloped  on. 

''That's  of  no  consequence  to  me,"  he  said  to  himself. 

He  had  ridden  only  a  few  hundred  paces  farther 
when  he  perceived  at  his  left,  cutting  him  off,  an  im- 
mense body  of  cavalry  on  coal-black  horses  and  in 
brilliant  white  uniforms.  They  extended  the  whole 
length  of  the  field  and  were  galloping  straight  at 
him. 

Rostof  spurred  his  horse  at  full  speed  so  as  to  get 
out  of  the  way  of  these  cavalrymen,  and  he  would 
easily  have  distanced  them  had  they  kept  on  at  the 
same  pace  all  the  time,  but  they  rode  faster  and  faster, 
and  some  of  the  horses  were  almost  upon  him.  Rostof 
distinguished  more  and  more  clearly  the  trampling  of 
their  hoofs  and  the  jingling  of  their  arms,  and  could 
see  more  and  more  distinctly  their  horses,  their  figures, 
and  their  faces.  These  were  our  "Cavalier-guards'' 
on  their  way  to  charge  the  French  cavalry  who  were 
deploying  to  meet  them. 

The  Cavalier-guards  came  galloping  along,  but  still 
kept  their  horses  under  restraint.  Rostof  could  already 
see  their  faces  and  hear  the  word  of  command,  — 
MarscJi !  inarsch !  —  spoken  by  the  officer  who  was 
urging  on  his  blooded  charger. 

Rostof,  afraid  of  being  crushed  or  carried  away  into 
the  charge  against  the  French,  spurred  along  the  front 
with  all  the  speed  that  he  could  get  out  of  his  horse, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  ^29 

and  still  it  seemed  as  if  he  were  going  to  fail  of  it. 
The  last  rider  in  the  Line,  a  pock-marked  man  of  giant 
frame,  frowned  angrily  when  he  saw  Rostof  in  front 
of  him,  knowing  that  they  must  infallibly  come  into 
collision.  This  Guardsman  would  surely  have  over- 
thrown Rostof,  —  for  Rostof  himself  could  not  help 
seeing  how  small  and  slight  he  and  Bedouin  were  in 
comparison  with  these  tremendous  men  and  horses,  — 
if  he  had  not  had  the  presence  of  mind  to  shake  his 
riding-whip  in  the  eyes  of  the  Guardsman's  horse. 

The  charger,  black  as  a  coal,  heavy  and  tall,  shied, 
cropping  back  his  ears,  but  the  pock-marked  rider  plunged 
his  huge  spurs  into  his  side  with  all  his  might,  and  the 
charger,  arching  his  tail  and  stretching  out  his  neck, 
rushed  onward  faster  than  ever.  Rostof  was  hardly  out 
of  the  way  of  the  Guardsmen  when  he  heard  their 
hurrah,  and  glancing  around  saw  that  their  front  ranks 
were  already  mingling  with  strange  horsemen  with  red 
epaulets,  apparently  the  French.  Farther  away  it  was 
impossible  to  see  anything,  because  immediately  after 
this,  on  the  other  side,  the  cannon  began  to  belch  forth 
smoke,  and  everything  was  shrouded. 

At  the  moment  the  Guardsmen  dashed  past  him  and 
were  lost  to  view  in  the  smoke,  Rostof  was  undecided  in 
his  own  mind  whether  he  should  gallop  after  them  or 
go  where  his  duty  called  him. 

This  was  that  brilliant  '*  Charge  of  the  Cavalier-guards  " 
which  the  French  themselves  so  much  admired.  It  was 
terrible  for  Rostof  when  he  heard  afterward,  that  out  of 
all  that  throng  of  handsome  young  giants,  out  of  all 
those  brilliant,  rich  young  men,  officers  and  yunkers 
mounted  on  splendid  chargers  who  galloped  past  him, 
only  eighteen  were  left  alive  after  the  charge. 

"  Why  should  I  envy  them }  My  turn  will  come, 
and  perhaps  I  shall  see  the  sovereign  very  soon  now," 
thought  Rostof,  and  he  galloped  on. 

When  he  came  up  to  the  infantry  of  the  Guards,  his 
attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that  shot  and  shell  were 
flying  over  them  and  around  them,  not  so  much  because 
he  heard  the  sounds  of  the  missiles  as  because  he  saw 

VOL.  II.  —  9 


ijo  WAR    AND    PEACE 

dismay  on  the  faces  of  the  soldiers  and  an  unnaturai 
martial  solemnity  on  the  faces  of  the  officers. 

As  he  was  riding  behind  one  of  the  infantry  regiments 
of  the  Guard,  he  heard  a  voice  calling  him  by  name:  — 

"Rostof !" 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  he  replied,  not  seeing  that  it  was  Boris. 

"What  do  you  think  of  this.''  We  were  put  in  the 
front  line.  Our  regiment  has  been  in  a  charge,"  said 
Boris,  smiling  with  the  happy  smile  that  young  men 
wear  when  they  have  been  for  the  first  time  under  fire. 

Rostof  drew  up. 

"  Have  you,  indeed  !  "  said  he,  "  and  how  was  it  ?  " 

"  We  drove  them  back,"  said  Bon's,  eagerly,  and  be- 
coming talkative.     ''You  can  imagine." 

And  Bon's  began  to  relate  how  the  Guards,  as  they 
stood  in  their  places  and  saw  troops  in  front  of  them, 
at  first  mistook  them  for  Austrians,  and  then  suddenly, 
by  the  shots  that  came  flying  over  from  these  same 
troops,  recognized  that  they  were  in  the  front  line  and 
unexpectedly  engaged  in  the  conflict.  Rostof,  not  stop- 
ping to  hear  Bon's  to  the  end  of  his  story,  started  his 
horse. 

*'  Where  are  you  bound  ?  " 

"To  his  majesty,  with  a  message." 

"There  he  is,"  said  Bon's,  who  supposed  that  Rostof 
wanted  his  highness  instead  of  his  majesty,  and  therefore 
directed  him  to  the  grand  duke,  who  was  standing  not 
a  hundred  paces  away.  Dressed  in  a  helmet  and  a 
Cavalier-guard  ^oUt,  or  jack-et,  with  elevated  shoulders 
and  frowning  face,  he  was  shouting  something  to  a  pale 
Austrian  officer  in  a  white  uniform. 

"  No  !  that 's  the  grand  duke,  but  my  errand  is  to  the 
commander-in-chief  or  to  the  emperor,"  said  Rostof,  and 
was  just  getting  his  horse  under  way. 

"Count!  count!"  cried  Berg,  who,  no  less  excited 
than  Bon's  had  been,  came  running  up  from  the  other 
side,  "count,  I  have  been  wounded  in  my  right  arm," 
said  he,  pointing  to  his  wrist,  which  was  bloody  and 
wrapped  up  in  a  handkerchief,  "and  I  stayed  at  the 
front.     Count.  I  shall  have  to  hold  my  sword  in  my  left 


WAR    AND    PEACE  131 

hand.  In  the  Von  Berg  family,  count,  all  of  us  have 
been  knights !  " 

Berg  was  saying  something  more,  but  Rostof,  not 
stopping  to  listen  to  him,  was  already  far  away. 

Passing  by  the  Guards  and  across  a  vacant  space, 
Rostof  in  order  not  to  get  into  the  front  again,  as  he 
had  been,  when  he  was  caught  by  the  charge  of  the 
Cavalier-guards,  rode  along  the  line  of  the  reserves,  mak- 
ing a  considerable  detour  of  the  place  where  the  most 
violent  cannonade  and  musketry  firing  was  heard.  Sud- 
denly he  heard  loud  volleys  of  musketry  before  him  and 
behind  our  troops,  in  a  place  where  he  would  never  have 
suspected  the  presence  of  the  enemy. 

"What  can  that  mean?"  wondered  Rostof.  "Can 
the  enemy  have  outflanked  us  ?  It  cannot  be,"  said  he 
to  himself,  and  a  horror  of  fear  for  himself  and  for  the 
success  of  the  battle  suddenly  came  over  him.  "What- 
ever it  is,  however,"  he  thought,  "now  there's  no  avoid- 
ing it.  I  must  find  the  commander-in-chief  here,  and  if 
all  is  lost,  then  it  is  my  place  to  perish  with  the  rest." 

The  gloomy  presentiment  which  had  suddenly  come 
over  him  was  more  and  more  made  certainty  the  farther 
he  rode  into  the  fields  behind  the  village  of  Pratz, 
occupied  by  throngs  of  demoralized  troops. 

"  What  does  this  mean  }  What  can  this  mean  ?  At 
whom  are  they  firing  }  Who  is  firing  ?  "  he  inquired,  as 
he  overtook  Russian  and  Austrian  soldiers  running  in 
confused  throngs  across  his  path. 

"  The  devil  only  knows  !  He  has  beaten  us  all.  All 
is  lost,"  answered  the  throngs  of  the  fugitives  in  Russian, 
in  German,  and  in  Bohemian,  and  they  could  tell  no 
better  than  he  himself  could  what  was  going  on  there. 

"  Hang  the  Germans !"  cried  one. 

"  The  devil  take  'em,  the  traitors  !  " 

''  Ziim  Henkerdiese  Riissen  —  to  the  devil  with  these 
Russians,"  stammered  some  German. 

A  number  of  wounded  were  wandering  down  the  road. 
Curses,  cries,  groans,  mingled  in  one  general  uproar 
The  firing  ceased  ;  as  Rostof  afterward  heard,  Russian 
and  Austrian  soldiers  had  fired  at  each  other. 


132  WAR    AND    PEACE 

*' Bozhe  moi !  —  My  God,  what  does  this  mean? 
thought  Rostof.  **  And  here  where  any  minute  the 
emperor  might  see  them.  But  no!  these  were  appar- 
ently only  a  few  cowards.  This  is  only  transient,  this 
is  nothing!  it  cannot  be,"  he  said  to  himself;  '*  I  must 
get  by  them  as  soon  as  possible." 

The  idea  of  a  defeat  and  of  a  total  defeat  could  not 
enter  Rostof's  head.  Although  he  could  see  the  French 
cannon  and  troops  on  the  Pratzer,  on  the  very  place 
where  he  had  been  commanded  to  find  the  commander- 
in-chief,  he  could  not  and  would  not  believe  this. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

Rostof  had  been  told  that  he  should  find  Kutuzof 
and  the  emperor  somewhere  in  the  vicinity  of  the  village 
of  Pratz.  But  they  were  not  to  be  found  there,  nor 
was  a  single  ofificer  in  sight,  but  everywhere  throngs  ol 
fleeing  troops  of  all  nationalities. 

He  spurred  on  his  horse,  which  was  already  growing 
fagged,  so  as  to  pass  by  these  fugitives  as  quickly  as 
possible  ;  but  the  farther  he  went,  the  more  demoralized 
he  found  the  forces.  Along  the  highroad  where  he  was 
riding,  carriages  and  equipages  of  all  sorts  were  crowded 
together,  Russian  and  Austrian  soldiers  of  all  the  differ- 
ent branches  of  the  service,  wounded  and  not  wounded. 
All  this  mass  hummed  and  confusedly  swarmed  under 
the  dispiriting  sounds  of  the  shells  fired  from  French 
batteries  posted  on  the  heights  of  the  Pratzer. 

*'  Where  is  the  emperor  }  Where  is  Kutuzof  ?  "  asked 
Rostof  of  every  one  whom  he  could  bring  to  a  stop,  but 
not  one  would  answer  his  question. 

At  last  seizing  a  soldier  by  the  collar,  he  obliged  him 
to  reply. 

**  Eh  !  brother!  They've  all  been  yonder  this  long 
time  —  all  cut  sticks!"  said  the  soldier,  laughing  for 
some  reason  and  breaking  away. 

Releasing  this  soldier,  who  was  evidently  drunk, 
Rostof   managed   to  stop   the   denshchik,  —  or  groom 


WAR    AND    PEACE  13^'? 

of  some  person  of  consequence,  —  and  began  to  ply  him 
with  questions.  The  denshchik  told  Rostof  that  the  em- 
peror had  been  driven  by  an  hour  before  at  full  speed 
in  a  carriage  along  this  same  road,  and  that  the  emperor 
had  been  wounded. 

"  It  cannot  be,"  said  Rostof;  "  it  must  have  been  some 
one  else." 

*' I  myself  saw  him,"  said  the  denshchik,  with  a  self- 
satisfied  laugh,  ''  I  ought  to  know  the  sovereign  by  sight; 
I  should  like  to  know  how  many  times  I  have  seen  him 
in  Petersburg  !  He  leaned  back  in  the  carriage  and  was 
pale,  very  pale.  Heavens  !  what  a  rate  those  four  black 
horses  thundered  by  us  here ;  I  should  think  I  might 
know  the  Tsar's  horses,  and  Ilya  Ivanuitch !  I  guess 
Ilya,  the  coachman,  would  n't  be  very  likely  to  drive  by 
with  any  one  less  than  the  Tsar  !  " 

Rostof  gave  his  horse  the  spur  and  started  to  ride 
farther.     A  wounded  officer  passing  by  turned  to  him. 

''Who  was  it  you  wanted.?"  asked  the  officer;  "the 
commander-in-chief?  He  was  killed  by  a  cannon-ball; 
hit  him  in  the  chest,  right  at  the  head  of  our  regi- 
ment." 

"  Not  killed  !  only  wounded,"  said  another  officer. 

"Who?  Kutuzof  ?"  asked  Rostof. 

"No,  not  Kutuzof,  but  what  do  you  call  him  —  ah, 
well,  it 's  all  the  same.  Not  many  are  left  alive.  If  you 
go  down  yonder,  yonder  to  that  village,  you  '11  find  all 
the  commanders  gathered,"  said  this  officer,  pointing  to 
the  village  of  Gostieradeck,  and  he  passed  on. 

Rostof  walked  his  horse,  not  knowing  now  where  to 
go  or  whom  to  seek.  The  sovereign  wounded !  the  bat- 
tle lost !  Even  now  it  was  impossible  to  believe  that. 
Rostof  rode  away  in  the  direction  indicated  by  the  offi- 
cer ;  in  the  distance  could  be  seen  towers  and  a  church. 
What  need  was  there  of  his  hurrying?  What  had  he 
now  to  say  to  the  sovereign  or  to  Kutuzof,  even  if  they 
were  alive  and  not  wounded  ? 

"  That  road  ;  take  that  road,  your  nobility,  else  they  '11 
shoot  you  down,  yonder !  "  cried  a  soldier  to  him- 
"They'll  shoot  you!" 


134  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"Oh,  what  are  you  talking  about?"  cried  another. 
"That's  the  nearest  way  to  where  he  is  going." 

Rostof  considered  a  moment  and  then  rode  in  exactly 
the  direction  where  they  said  that  he  would  be  killed. 

"Now  it's  all  the  same  to  me;  if  the  sovereign  is 
wounded,  why  should  I  try  to  save  my  life  ? "  he  asked 
himself.  He  rode  out  on  the  open  space  where  there 
had  been  the  heaviest  slaughter  of  the  men  escaping 
from  Pratz.  The  French  had  not  yet  occupied  this 
place,  and  the  Russians  —  that  is  those  who  were  alive 
or  only  slightly  wounded  —  had  long  before  abandoned 
it.  On  the  ground,  like  shocks  of  corn  on  a  fertile  field, 
lay  men  in  tens,  in  dozens,  killed  or  wounded,  on  every 
rood  of  the  place. 

The  wounded  had  crawled  together,  two  or  three  at 
a  time,  and  their  cries  and  groans  could  be  heard  most 
gruesomely,  though  it  seemed  to  Rostof  that  they  were 
often  simulated.  He  put  his  horse  at  a  trot,  so  as  not 
to  see  all  these  suffering  men,  and  a  great  horror  came 
over  him.  He  was  not  afraid  for  his  own  life;  but  lest 
he  should  lose  the  manliness,  which  he  felt  was  essentia] 
to  him,  he  knew  that  he  could  not  endure  the  spectacle 
of  those  unfortunate  wretches. 

The  French  had  ceased  to  fire  on  this  field  strewn 
with  dead  and  wounded,  because  there  was  no  longer 
any  sign  of  life  on  it ;  but  when  they  caught  sight  of 
the  adjutant  riding  across,  they  turned  one  of  their  can- 
non on  it,  and  sent  a  few  balls  after  him.  The  sensa- 
tion caused  by  these  terrific  whistling  sounds,  and  the 
spectacle  of  the  dead  around  him,  aroused  in  Rostof's 
mind  an  impression  of  horror  and  self-commiseration. 
He  recalled  his  mother's  last  letter.  "  How  would  she 
feel,"  he  asked  himself,  "if  she  should  see  me  now,  here 
in  this  field,  with  those  cannon  pointed  at  me  ? " 

At  the  village  of  Gostieradeck  the  Russian  troops 
were  retiring  from  the  field  of  battle  in  good  order, 
though  the  regiments  were  mixed  together.  This  was 
out  of  range  of  the  French  cannon-balls,  and  the  firing 
sounded  more  distant.  Here  all  clearly  saw  and  openly 
contessed  that  the  battle  was  lost.     No  one  to  whom 


WAR    AND    PEACE  135 

Rostof  applied  for  information  could  tell  him  where  the 
emperor  or  Kutuzof  was.  Some  declared  that  the  report 
about  the  sovereign  being  wounded  was  correct,  others 
denied  it  and  explained  this  false  though  widespread 
rumor  by  the  fact  that  the  Ober-hofmarshal,  Count  Tol- 
stoi', who  had  gone  out  in  company  of  others  of  the  suite 
to  see  the  battle,  had  dashed  away,  pale  and  frightened, 
from  the  field  of  battle  in  the  emperor's  carriage. 

One  officer  told  Rostof  that  in  the  rear  of  a  village, 
over  toward  the  left,  he  had  seen  some  officials  of  high 
rank,  and  Rostof  started  in  that  direction,  not  indeed 
with  the  expectation  of  finding  any  one,  but  merely  for 
the  sake  of  clearing  his  conscience. 

After  riding  three  versts  and  passing  beyond  the  last 
of  the  Russian  troops,  Rostof  reached  an  orchard  pro- 
tected by  a  ditch,  and  saw  two  riders  standing  near  the 
ditch.  One,  vn'th  a  white  plume  in  his  hat,  had  a  famil- 
iar look ;  the  other  rider,  whom  he  did  not  know,  was 
mounted  on  a  handsome  chestnut  charger,  —  this  charger 
somehow  seemed  familiar  to  Rostof-  —  and  rode  up  to 
the  ditch,  put  spurs  to  his  horse,  and  giving  him  his 
head  easily  leaped  the  ditch  into  the  orchard.  The 
earth  merely  crumbled  away  a  little  from  the  embank- 
ment under  the  horse's  hind  hoofs.  Turning  his  horse 
short,  he  leaped  back  over  the  ditch  again,  and  ad- 
dressed himself  respectfully  to  the  rider  with  the  white 
plume,  apparently  urging  him  to  do  the  same  thing. 
The  rider,  whose  figure  Rostof  seemed  to  recognize,  and 
had  therefore  involuntarily  attracted  his  attention,  shook 
his  head  and  made  a  gesture  of  refusal  with  his  hand, 
and  Rostof  immediately,  by  this  gesture,  knew  that  it 
was  his  idolized,  lamented  sovereign. 

"  But  it  cannot  be  that  he  is  left  alone  in  this  bare 
field!"  thought  Rostof.  Just  then  Alexander  turned 
his  head,  so  that  he  had  a  good  view  of  those  beloved 
features  so  sharply  graven  on  his  memory.  The  sover- 
eign was  pale,  his  cheeks  sunken,  and  his  eye;s  cavern- 
ous, but  there  was  all  the  more  charm,  all  the  more 
sweetness,  in  his  features.  Rostof  was  delighted  to  be 
convinced  that  the  rumor  of  the  sovereign's  wound  was 


136  WAR    AND    PEACE 

false.  He  was  happy  to  have  seen  him.  He  knew  that 
he  might,  nay,  that  he  ought  to,  go  straight  up  to  him 
and  dehver  the  message  that  had  been  intrusted  to  him 
by  Dolgorukof. 

^  But  just  as  a  young  man  in  love  trembles  and  loses 
his  presence  of  mind,  not  daring  to  say  what  he  has 
been  dreaming  about  night  after  night,  and  timidly  looks 
around,  in  search  of  help  or  the  possibility  of  postpon- 
ing it,  \yhen  the  wished-for  moment  has  at  last  arrived 
and  he  is  alone  with  her;  so  also  with  Rostof,  now  that 
he  had  attained  what  he  had  yearned  for  more  than  all 
else  in  the  world  :  he  did  not  know  how  to  approach 
his  sovereign,  and  devised  a  thousand  excuses  for  find- 
ing it  untimely,  improper,  and  impossible. 

**  What !  I  might  seem  to  be  taking  advantage  of  his 
being  alone  and  dejected.  An  unknown  face  at  this 
moment  of  sorrow  might  seem  unpleasant  and  trouble- 
some ;  besides,  what  could  I  say  to  him  now,  when  one 
glance  from  him  makes  my  heart  swell  within  me  and 
seem  to  leap  into  my  mouth." 

Not  one  of  those  innumerable  speeches  which  he  had 
so  carefully  prepared  in  case  he  should  meet  the  em- 
peror now  recurred  to  his  mind.  Those  speeches  were, 
for  the  most  part,  composed  under  different  conditions ; 
they  were  to  be  spoken  at  the  moment  of  victory  and 
triumph ;  above  all  on  his  death-bed,  when,  as  he  sank 
under  the  wounds  that  he  had  received,  his  sovereign 
would  come  to  see  him,  and  thank  him  for  his  heroic 
conduct,  and  he  would  thus  show  him  his  love  sealed  by 
his  death. 

"  Besides,  what  now  could  I  ask  the  emperor  in  regard 
to  his  commands  to  the  left  wing  when  now  already  it 
is  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  battle  is  lost. 
No,  really,  I  ought  not  to  trouble  him.  I  ought  not  to 
break  in  upon  his  reflections.  It  would  be  better  to  die 
a  thousand  times  than  to  receive  an  angry  look  or  an 
angry  word  from  him." 

Such  was  Rostof's  decision,  and  melancholy  and  with 
despair  in  his  heart  he  rode  away,  constantly  glancing 
back  at  the  emperor,  still  remaining  in  the  same  unde- 


WAR    AND    PEACE  137 

cided  attitude.  While  Rostof  was  making  these  reflec- 
tions, and  sadly  rode  away  from  his  sovereign,  Captain 
von  Toll  galloped  up  to  the  same  place,  and  seeing  the 
emperor  went  straight  up  to  him,  offered  him  his  services, 
and  helped  him  to  cross  the  ditch  on  foot.  The  em- 
peror, wishing  to  rest  and  feeling  ill,  sat  down  under 
an  apple  tree,  and  Toll  stood  near  him.  Rostof  looked 
from  afar,  and  saw  with  jealousy  and  regret  how  Von 
Toll  talked  long  and  eagerly  to  the  sovereign,  and  how 
the  sovereign,  apparently  weeping,  covered  his  eyes 
with  one  hand  and  with  the  other  pressed  Von  Toll's. 

"  And  I  might  have  done  that  in  his  place,"  thought 
Rostof,  and  with  difficulty  restraining  the  tears  of  sym- 
pathy for  his  sovereign,  he  rode  away  in  utter  despair, 
not  knowing  now  where  he  should  go  or  for  what  reason. 

His  despair  was  all  the  more  bitter  because  he  felt 
that  his  own  weakness  was  the  cause  of  his  misfortune. 

He  might — not  only  might,  but  he  ought  to  —  have 
ridden  up  to  the  emperor.  And  this  was  his  only 
chance  of  exhibiting  to  the  sovereign  his  devotion.  And 
he  did  not  take  advantage  of  it.  "  Why  did  I  do  so .?  " 
h'e  asked  himself,  and  he  turned  his  horse  about  and 
galloped  back  to  the  same  place  where  the  emperor  had 
been  sitting ;  but  there  was  no  one  any  longer  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ditch.  Only  a  train  of  baggage-wag- 
ons and  carriages  was  winding  along. 

From  one  of  the  wagoners,  Rostof  learned  that  Kutu- 
zof's  staff  were  not  very  far  away,  at  the  village  where 
the  wagons  were  bound.     Rostof  followed  them. 

The  foremost  in  the  train  was  Kutuzof's  groom,  lead- 
ing a  horse  with  his  trappings.  The  wagons  followed 
behind  the  groom,  and  behind  the  wagon  walked  an 
old  man,  a  household  serf  with  bandy  legs,  wearing  a 
cap  and  a  short  shuba. 

"  Tit !  ah  !  Tit!  "  cried  the  groom. 

"  What  is  it .?  "  asked  the  old  man,  heedlessly. 

"  Tit !  Tit !  grind  the  wheat !  " 

''  E  !  durak  !  tfu  !  "  said  the  old  man,  angrily  spitting. 
Some  time  passed  in  silAice,  as  they  moved  onward,  and 
then  the  same  joking  rhyme  was  repeated. 


138  WAR    AND    PEACE 

By  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  battle  was  lost  at 
every  point.  More  than  a  hundred  cannon  had  already 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  Prsczebiszewsky 
and  his  battalion  had  laid  down  their  arms.  The  other 
columns,  having  lost  more  than  half  their  efficient,  were 
retreating  in  disorderly,  demoralized  throngs. 

The  relics  of  Langeron  and  Dokhturof's  forces,  all  in 
confusion,  were  crowded  together  around  the  ponds,  on 
the  dikes  and  banks  of  the  village  of  Augest. 

By  six  o'clock  the  only  cannonading  that  was  any 
longer  heard  was  directed  at  the  dike  of  Augest  by 
some  of  the  French,  who  had  established  a  large  battery 
on  the  slopes  of  the  Pratzer,  and  were  trying  to  cut 
down  our  men  as  they  retreated.  At  the  rear,  Dokhtu- 
rof  and  some  others,  having  collected  their  battalions, 
made  a  stand  against  the  French,  who  were  pursuing 
our  troops. 

^  It  had  begun  to  be  entirely  dark.  On  the  narrow 
dike  of  Augest,  where  for  so  many  years  the  little  old 
niiller  had  peacefully  sat  with  his  hook  and  line,  while 
his  grandson  with  shirt-sleeves  rolled  up  played  in  the 
water-can  with  the  flapping  silver  fish;  on  that  dike, 
over  which  the  Moravians,  in  shaggy  caps  and  blue 
blouses,  had  driven  their  two-horse  teams  loaded  down 
with  spring  wheat,  and  returned  dusted  with  flour  and 
with  whitened  teams ;  along  this  same  dike,  this  narrow 
dike,  among  vans  and  field-pieces,  under  the  feet  of 
horses,  and  between  the  wheels,  crowded  a  throng  of 
men,  their  faces  distorted  with  fear  of  death,  pushing 
one  another,  expiring,  trampling  on  the  dying  and  dead, 
and  crushing  one  another,  only  to  be  themselves  killed 
a  few  steps  farther  on. 

Every  ten  seconds  a  cannon-ball,  compressing  the  air, 
flew  by,  or  a  shell  came  bursting  amid  this  dense  throng, 
dealing  death  and  spattering  with  blood  those  who  stood 
near  by.  Dolokhof,  wounded  in  the  arm,  on  foot,  with 
ten  men  of  his  company  —  he  was  now  an  officer  again 
—  and  his  regimental  commander,  on  horseback,  con 
stituted  the  sole  survivors  of  the  whole  regiment.  Car 
ried  along  in  the  throng,  they  were  crowded  together  at 


WAR   AND    PEACE  139 

the  very  entrance  of  the  dike,  and,  pressed  on  all  sides, 
were  obhged  to  halt,  because  a  horse  attached  to  a  field- 
piece  had  fallen,  and  the  throng  were  trying  to  drag  it 
along. 

One  cannon-ball  struck  some  one  behnid  them,  another 
struck  just  in  front,  and  spattered  Dolokhof  with  blood. 
The  crowd,  in  desperation,  pressed  on,  squeezing  to- 
gether, and  then,  after  advancing  a  few  steps,  halted 
again. 

**  If  we  could  only  make  those  hundred  paces,  and 
safety  is  sure ;  if  we  stay  here  two  minutes  longer,  our 
destruction  is  certain  !  "  said  each  one  to  himself. 

Dolokhof,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  throng,  forced 
his  way  through  to  the  edge  of  the  dike,  knocking 
down  two  soldiers,  and  sprang  out  on  the  glare  ice  that 
covered  the  pond. 

"  Turn  out  this  way  !  "  he  cried,  sliding  along  on  the 
ice,  which  bent  under  his  weight.  ''  Turn  out,"  he  cried 
to  the  gunner,  "  it  will  hold  !  it  will  hold !  " 

The  ice  held  him,  but  it  yielded  and  cracked,  and  it 
was  evident  that  it  would  immediately  give  way,  if  not 
under  his  weight  alone,  certainly  under  that  of  the  field- 
piece  or  the  throng  of  men.  They  looked  at  him,  and 
crowded  along  the  shore,  not  venturing  to  step  upon  the 
ice.  The  commander  of  the  regiment,  sitting  on  horse- 
back at  the  entrance,  was  just  raising  his  hand  and  open- 
ing his  mouth  to  speak  to  Dolokhof,  when  suddenly  a 
cannon-ball  flew  so  close  over  the  men  that  they  all 
ducked  their  heads.  There  was  a  dull  thud  as  if  some- 
thing soft  were  struck,  and  the  general  fell  from  his 
horse  in  a  pool  of  blood.  No  one  looked  at  the  general 
or  thought  of  picking  him  up. 

"  Come  on  the  ice  !  "  ....  "  Cross  the  ice  !  "  ....  "  Come 
on!  "....*' Move  on!  Don't  you  hear.?  Come!"  was 
heard  suddenly  from  innumerable  voices,  after  the  can- 
non-ball had  struck  the  general,  though  the  men  knew 
not  what  or  why  they  were  crying. 

One  of  the  last  field-pieces  that  was  just  entering  on 
the  dike  ventured  on  the  ice.  A  throng  of  soldiers 
started  down  from  the  ground  on  the  frozen  pond.     One 


I40  WAR    AND    PEACE 

of  the  rearmost  soldiers  broke  through,  one  leg  slumping 
down  into  the  water.  He  tried  to  save  himself  and 
sank  up  to  his  belt.  The  men  who  stood  nearest  hela 
back  ;  the  driver  of  the  field-piece  drew  in  his  horses, 
but  still  behind  them  were  heard  the  shouts:  — 

*'  Take  to  the  ice  !"....'*  What  are  you  stopping  for .? " 
....  *'  Take  to  the  ice  !  "....  "  Take  to  the  ice  !  "  and  cries 
of  horror  were  heard  among  the  throng.  The  soldiers 
surrounding  the  gun  gesticulated  over  their  horses,  and 
beat  them  to  make  them  turn  and  go  on.  The  horses 
struck  out  from  the  shore.  The  ice,  which  might  have 
held  the  foot-soldiers,  gave  way  in  one  immense  sheet, 
and  forty  men  who  were  on  it  threw  themselves,  some 
forward  and  some  back,  trampling  on  one  another. 

All  the  time  the  cannon-balls  kept  regularly  whistling 
by  and  falling  on  the  ice,  into  the  w^ater,  and,  more  fre- 
quently than  all,  into  the  mass  of  men  that  covered  the 
dike,  the  pond,  and  the  banks. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

On  the  Pratzer  hill,  in  the  same  spot  where  he  had 
fallen  with  the  flagstaff  in  his  hand,  lay  Prince  Andrei' 
Bolkonsky,  his  life-blood  oozing  away,  and  unconsciously 
groaning,  with  light,  pitiful  groans,  like  an  aiHng  child. 

By  evening,  he  ceased  to  groan,  and  lay  absolutely 
still.  ^  He  did  not  know  how  long  his  unconsciousness 
continued.  Suddenly,  he  became  conscious  that  he  was 
alive,  and  suffering  from  a  burning  and  tormenting  pain 
in  his  head. 

*' Where  is  that  lofty  heaven  which  I  had  never  seen 
before,  and  which  I  saw  to-day  ?  "  That  was  his  first 
thought.  ''And  I  never  knew  such  pain  as  this,  either," 
he  said  to  himself.  ''Yes,  I  have  never  known  anything, 
anything  like  this,  till  now.     But  where  am  I  ? " 

He  tried  to  listen,  and  heard  the  trampling  hoofs  of 
several  horses  approaching,  and  the  sounds  of  voices, 
talking  French.  He  opened  his  eyes.  Over  him  still 
stretched    the   same  lofty  heavens,  with  clouds  sailing 


WAR   AND    PEACE  141 

over  it  in  still  loftier  heights,  and  beyond  them  he  could 
see  the  depths  of  endless  blue.  He  did  not  turn  his 
head  or  look  at  those  who,  to  judge  from  the  hoof  beats 
of  the  horses  and  the  sounds  of  the  voices,  rode  up  to 
him  and  paused. 

These  horsemen  were  Napoleon,  accompanied  by  two 
aides.  Bonaparte,  who  had  been  riding  over  the  field 
of  battle,  had  given  orders  to  strengthen  the  battery 
that  was  cannonading  the  dike  of  Augest,  and  was  now 
looking  after  the  killed  and  wounded  left  on  the  battle- 
field. 

*'  Handsome  men  !  "  said  Napoleon,  gazing  at  a  Rus- 
sian grenadier,  who  lay  on  his  belly  with  his  face  half 
buried  in  the  soil,  and  his  neck  turning  black,  and  one 
arm  flung  out  and  stiffened  in  death. 

''The  ammunition  fqr  the  field-guns  is  exhausted, 
sire !  " 

''  Have  that  of  the  reserves  brought,"  said  Napoleon, 
and  then  a  step  or  two  nearer  he  paused  over  Prince 
Andrei,  who  lay  on  his  back  with  the  flagstaff  clutched 
in  his  hands  (the  flag  had  been  carried  off  by  the  French 
as  a  trophy). 

"  Voi'/d,  nne  belle  viort,''  said  Napoleon,  gazing  at 
Bolkonsky.  Prince  Andrei  realized  that  this  was  said 
of  him,  and  that  it  was  spoken  by  Napoleon.  He  heard 
them  address  the  speaker  as  *'  sire."  But  he  heard  these 
words  as  if  they  had  been  the  buzzing  of  a  fly.  He  was 
not  only  not  interested  in  them,  but  they  made  no  im- 
pression upon  him,  and  he  immediately  forgot  them. 
His  head  throbbed  as  with  fire;  he  felt  that  his  life- 
blood  was  ebbing,  and  he  still  saw  far  above  him  the 
distant,  eternal  heavens.  He  knew  that  this  was  Napo- 
leon, his  hero ;  but  at  this  moment,  Napoleon  seemed 
to  him  merely  a  small,  insignificant  man  in  comparison 
with  that  lofty,  infinite  heaven,  with  the  clouds  flying 
over  it.  It  was  a  matter  of  utter  indifference  to  him 
who  stood  looking  down  on  him,  or  what  was  said  about 
him  at  that  moment.  He  was  merely  conscious  of  a 
feeling  of  joy  that  people  had  come  to  him,  and  of  a 
desire  for  these  people  to  give  him  assistance  and  bring 


142  WAR    AND    PEACE 

him  back  to  life,  which  seemed  to  him  so  beautiful :  be« 
cause  he  understood  it  so  dififerently  now.  He  collected 
all  his  strength  to  move  and  make  some  sound.  He 
managed  to  move  his  Itg  slightly,  and  uttered  a 
weak,  feeble,  sickly  moan  which  stirred  pity  even  in 
himself. 

"Ah!  he  is  alive!"  said  Napoleon.  "Take  dp  this 
young  man,  and  take  him  to  the  temporary  hospital." 

Having  given  this  order.  Napoleon  rode  on  to  meet 
Marshal  Lannes,  who,  removing  his  hat  and  smiling, 
rode  up  and  congratulated  him  on  the  victory. 

Prince  Andrei  recollected  nothing  further;  he  lost 
consciousness  in  consequence  of  the  terrible  pain 
caused  by  those  who  placed  him  on  the  stretcher,  and 
by  the  jolting  as  he  was  carried  along,  and  by  the  prob- 
ing of  the  wound.  He  recovered  it  again  only  at  the 
very  end  of  the  day,  as  he  was  carried  to  the  hospital 
together  with  other  Russians  wounded  and  taken  pris- 
oner. At  this  time,  he  felt  a  little  fresher  and  was  able 
to  glance  around  and  even  to  speak. 

The  first  words  he  heard  after  he  came  to  were 
spoken  by  a  French  officer  in  charge  cf  the  convoy, 
who  said :  — 

"  We  must  stop  here ;  the  emperor  is  coming  by 
immediately ;  it  wdll  give  him  pleasure  to  see  these 
prisoners." 

"  There  are  so  many  prisoners  to-day,  —  almost  the 
whole  Russian  army,  —  I  should  think  it  would  have 
become  a  bore  to  him,"  said  another  officer. 

"  Well,  at  all  events,  this  man  here,  they  say,  was 
the  commander  of  all  the  Emperor  Alexander's  Guards," 
said  the  first  speaker,  indicating  a  wounded  Russian 
officer  in  a  white  Cavalier-guards  uniform.  Bolkonsky 
recognized  Prince  Repnin,  whom  he  had  met  in  Peters- 
burg society.  Next  him  was  a  youth  of  nineteen,  an 
officer  of  the  Cavalier-guard  also  wounded. 

Bonaparte  coming  up  at  a  gallop  reined  in  his  horse. 
"Who  is  the  chief  officer  here  ?  "  he  asked,  looking  at 
the  wounded. 

They  pointed  to  Colonel  Prince  Repnin. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  143 

"Were  you  the  commander  of  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander's Horse-guard  regiment  ?  "  asked  Napoleon. 

"  I  commanded  a  squadron,"  replied  Repnin. 

"Your  regiment  did  its  duty  with  honor,"  remarked 
Napoleon. 

"  Praise  from  a  great  commander  is  the  highest 
reward  that  a  soldier  can  have,"  said  Repnin. 

"  It  is  with  pleasure  that  I  give  it  to  you,"  replied 
Napoleon.     "  Who  is  this  young  man  next  you  .?  " 

Prince  Repnin  named  Lieutenant  Sukhtelen. 

Napoleon  glanced  at  him  and  said  with  a  smile  :  "  He 
is  very  young  to  oppose  us." 

"  Youth  does  not  prevent  one  from  being  brave," 
replied  Sukhtelen  in  a  broken  voice. 

"  A  beautiful  answer,"  said  Napoleon.  "  Young  man, 
you  will  get  on  in  the  world." 

Prince  Andrei,  who  had  been  placed  also  in  the  front 
rank,  under  the  eyes  of  the  emperor,  so  as  to  swell  the 
number  of  those  who  had  been  taken  prisoner,  naturally 
attracted  his  attention.  Napoleon  evidently  remem- 
bered having  seen  him  on  the  field,  and  turning  to  him 
he  used  exactly  the  same  expression,  "young  man,"  as 
when  Bolkonsky  had  the  first  time  come  under  his 
notice. 

'' Et  voiis,  jeitne  homme.  —  Well,  and  you,  young 
man?"  said  he,  addressing  him.  "How  do  you  feel, 
inon  brave  ?  " 

Although  five  minutes  before  this  Prince  Andre'f 
had  been  able  to  say  a  few  words  to  the  soldiers  who 
were    bearing    him,   now  he  fixed  his  eyes  directly  on 

Napoleon,  but  had  nothing  to  say To  him  at  this 

moment  all  the  interests  occupying  Napoleon  seemed 
so  petty,  his  former  hero  himself,  with  his  small  vanity 
and  delight  in  the  victory,  seemed  so  sordid  in  compari- 
son  with  that  high,  true,  and  just  heaven  which  he  had 
seen  and  learned  to  understand ;  and  that  was  why  he 
could  not  answer  him. 

Yes,  and  everything  seemed  to  him  so  profitless  and 
insignificant  in  comparison  with  that  stern  and  majestic 
train   of   thought   induced  in  his  mind  by  his  lapsing 


144  WAR    AND    PEACE 

strength,  as  his  life-blood  ebbed  away,  by  his  suffering 
and  the  near  expectation  of  death.  As  Prince  Andrei 
looked  into  Napoleon's  eyes,  he  thought  of  the  insig- 
nificance of  majesty,  of  the  insignificance  of  life,  the 
meaning  of  which  no  one  could  understand,  and  of  the 
still  greater  insignificance  of  death,  the  thought  of 
which  no  one  could  among  men  understand  or  explain. 

The  emperor,  without  waiting  for  any  answer,  turned 
away,  and  as  he  started  to  ride  on,  said  to  one  of  the 
officers : — 

**  Have  these  gentlemen  looked  after  and  conveyed 
to  my  bivouac ;  have  Doctor  Larrey  himself  look  after 
their  wounds.  Au  revoir^  Prince  Repnin,"  and  he 
touched  the  spurs  to  his  horse  and  galloped  away. 

His  face  was  bright  with  self-satisfaction  and  happi- 
ness. 

The  soldiers  carrying  Prince  Andrei  had  taken  from 
him  the  golden  medallion  which  the  Princess  Mari'ya 
had  hung  around  her  brother's  neck ;  but  when  they 
saw  the  flattering  way  in  which  the  emperor  treated  the 
prisoners,  they  hastened  to  return  the  medallion. 

Prince  Andrei  did  not  see  how  or  by  whom  the  me- 
dallion was  replaced,  but  he  suddenly  discovered  on  his 
chest,  outside  of  his  uniform,  the  little  image  attached 
to  its  slender  golden  chain. 

"  It  would  be  good,"  thought  Prince  AndreY,  letting 
his  eyes  rest  on  the  medallion  which  his  sister  had 
hung  around  his  neck  with  so  much  feeling  and  rever- 
ence, *'  it  would  be  good  if  everything  were  as  clear  and 
simple  as  it  seems  to  the  Princess  Mariya.  How  good 
it  would  be  to  know  where  to  find  help  in  this  life, 
and  what  to  expect  after  it,  —  beyond  the  grave  !  How 
happy  and  composed  I  should  be,  if  I  could  say  now, 
*  Lord  have  mercy  on  me ! '  But  to  whom  can  I  say 
that !  Is  it  force  —  impalpable,  incomprehensible,  which 
I  cannot  turn  to,  or  even  express  in  words ;  is  it  the 
great  All  or  nothingness,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  or  is  it 
God  which  is  sewed  in  this  amulet  which  the  Princess 
Mariya  gave  me }  Nothing,  nothing  is  certain,  except 
the  insignificance  of  all  within  my  comprehension,  and 


WAR   AND    PEACE  14S 

the  majesty  of  that  which  is  incomprehensible  but  all- 

^"^The^s'tretcher  started  off.  At  every  jolt  he  again  felt 
the  insufferable  pain,  his  fever  grew  more  violent,  and 
he  began  to  be  delirious.  The  dreams  about  his  father, 
his  wife,  his  sister,  and  his  unborn  son,  and  the  teeiing 
of  tenderness  which  he  had  experienced  on  the  night 
before  the  battle,  the  figure  of  the  little  insignificant 
Napoleon,  and  above  all  the  lofty  sky,  formed  the  prin- 
cipal content  of  his  feverish  imaginations. 

He  seemed  to  be  living  a  quiet  life  amid  calm,  domestic 
happiness  at  Luisiya  Gorui.  He  was  beginning  to  take 
delight  in  this  blissful  existence,  when  suddenly  the 
little  Napoleon  appeared  with  his  unsympathetic  shal- 
low-minded face,  expi-essing  happiness  at  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  others,  and  once  more  doubts  began  to  arise  and 
torment   him,  and  only  the    skies    seemed   to   promise 

healing  balm.  .       .  . 

Toward  morning  all  his  imaginations  were  utterly 
confused  and  blurred  in  the  chaos  and  fogs  of  uncon- 
sciousness and  forgetfulness,  which  much  more  likely, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  Doctor  Larrey,  Napoleon  s 
physician,  would  end  with  death  than  recovery. 

*'He  is  of  a  nervous  and  bilious  temperament  —  he 
won't  recover."  . 

Prince  Andrei',  together  with  other  prisoners  hope- 
lessly wounded,  was  turned  over  to  the  care  of  the 
natives  of  the  region. 

VOL.  II. —  10 


PART   FOURTH 


CHAPTER  I 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  year  1806,  Nicholar  Rostof 
went  home  on  furlough.  Denisof  was  also  going 
to  his  home  in  Voronezh,  and  Rostof  persuaded  him  to 
accompany  him  to  Moscow  and  make  him  a  visit.  At 
the  next  to  the  last  post  station,  Denisof  fell  in  with  a 
comrade,  and  drank  three  bottles  of  wine  with  him ;  and 
on  the  way  to  Moscow,  in  spite  of  the  cradle-holes  on 
the  road,  did  not  once  wake  up,  but  lay  stretched  out  in 
the  bottom  of  the  post-sledge,  next  Rostof,  who,  in  pro- 
portion as  they  approached  the  city,  grew  more  and 
more  impatient. 

'*  Faster  !  faster !  oh,  these  intolerable  streets,  shops, 
kalatchi,!  lanterns,  cab-drivers !  "  thought  Rostof,  when^ 
having  left  their  names  at  the  city  gates,  as  visitors  on 
furlough,  they  had  fairly  entered  the  city. 

''  Denisof  !  we  are  here  !  —  He  's  asleep  !  "  he  ex- 
claimed, leaning  forward  with  his  whole  body,  as  it  by 
this  motion  he  could  hope  to  increase  the  speed  of  the 
sledge.      Denisof  made  no  answer. 

**  There  is  the  cross  street,  where  Zakhar,  the  izvosh- 
chik,  used  to  stand ;  and  there  is  Zakhar  himself,  and 
the  same  horse  !  And  here  's  the  shop  where  we  used 
to  buy  gingerbread  !     Can't  you  hurry,  there  > " 

"Which  house.?"  asked  the  postilion. 

"That  one  yonder,  on  the  corner,  that  big  one,  can't 
you  see  .?  That 's  our  house  !  "  said  Rostof.  "  There 
that 's  our  house  !  —  Denisof  !  Denisof  !  we  shall  be 
there  in  a  moment!  " 

Denisof  lifted  his  head,  coughed,  and  made  no  answer 

^  Kaintch :  a  sort  of  wheaten  bread,  made  of  thin  dough,  peculiar  tc 
Russia. 

146 


WAR    AND    PEACE  147 

''Dmitri,"  said  Rostof,  calling  to  his  valet  on  the 
coachman's  seat,  "  there  's  a  light  in  our  house,  is  n't 
there  ? " 

"  Certainly  there  is ;  there  's  a  light  in  your  father's 
room." 

"They  can't  have  gone  to  bed  yet?  Hey?  What 
do  you  think  ?  See  here  !  Don't  you  forget  it,  I  want 
my  new  Hungarian  coat  taken  out,"  he  added,  stroking 
his  young  mustache.  "  Now,  then,  a  little  farther,"  he 
cried  to  the  postilion.  "  Here,  wake  up,  Vasha,"  turn- 
ing to  Denisof,  who  had  again  let  his  head  fall  back. 
*'  Come,  now,  get  along,  three  silver  rubles  for  vodka, 
get  on !  "  shouted  Rostof,  when  the  sledge  was  within 
three  doors  of  his  own  entrance.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
the  horses  did  not  move.  At  last  the  sledge  drew  up 
at  the  entrance  at  the  right.  Over  his  head,  Rostof 
saw  the  well-known  cornice,  with  the  peeling  stucco,  the 
front  doorsteps,  the  curbstone.  He  leaped  out  before 
the  sledge  had  stopped,  and  rushed  into  the  entry.  The 
house  stood  as  cold  and  motionless  as  if  it  had  no  con- 
cern with  the  one  who  was  entering  its  portals.  There 
was  no  one  in  the  entry. 

"  My  God !  has  anything  happened  ?  "  thought  Rostof, 
with  a  sinking  at  the  heart,  standing  still  for  a  minute, 
and  then  starting  to  run  along  the  entry  and  up  the 
well-known  winding  stairs.  There  was  still  the  same 
old  door  handle,  the  untidiness  of  which  always  annoyed 
the  countess,  as  loose  and  as  much  askew  as  ever.  In 
the  anteroom  burned  a  single  tallow  candle. 

The  old  Mikhaila  was  asleep  on  the  chest.  Prokofi, 
the  hall  boy,  who  was  so  strong  that  he  could  lift  a 
coach  by  the  back,  was  sitting  making  shoes  out  of 
selvage.  As  the  door  opened  he  looked  up,  and  his 
sleepy,  indifferent  expression  of  countenance  suddenly 
changed  to  one  of  awe  and  even  fright. 

"  Heavens  and  earth  !  The  young  count !  "  he  cried, 
as  soon  as  he  recognized  his  young  master.  "How  does 
it  happen,  my  dear  boy  ?  "  ^ 

And  Prokofi,  trembling  with  emotion,  rushed  through 

1  Galubchik^  ■ 


148  WAR   AND    PEACE 

the  door  into  the  drawmg-room,  evidently  with  the 
intention  of  announcing  the  good  news;  but  then,  on 
second  thought,  he  came  back  and  fell  on  the  young 
Darin's  neck. 

*'A11  well?"  asked  Rostof,  drawing  away  his  arm. 

^  "Yes!  glory  to  God,  glory  to  God!  Only  just  done 
dinner!  Let  us  have  a  look  at  you,  your  illustrious- 
ness !  " 

"Are  they  all  perfectly  happy.?" 
"  Glory  to  God  !  glory  to  God  !  " 

Rostof,  entirely  forgetting  about  Denisof,  and  not 
wishing  any  one  to  announce  his  arrival,  pulled  off 
his  fur  shuba,  and  ran  on  his  tiptoes  into  the  great  dark 
drawing-room.  Everything  was  the  same  :  the  same 
card-tables,  the  chandelier  still  in  its  covering.  But 
some  of  the  family  must  have  seen  the  young  barin,  and 
hardly  had  he  entered  the  drawing-room  before  some- 
thing flew  out  from  one  of  the  adjoining  rooms  like  a 
tornado,  hugged  him  and  began  to  kiss  him.  Then  a 
second,  and  still  a  third  object  came  leaping  out  of 
a  second  and  third  side  door;  more  embraces  more 
kisses,  more  shouts,  tears  of  joy !  He  could  n  )t  tell 
which  was  papa,  or  which  was  Natasha,  or  which  was 
Petya  !  All  were  shouting,  talking,  and  kissing  him  at 
one  and  the  same  time.  Suddenly,  he  discovered  that 
his  mother  was  not  among  them, 

"And  here  I  knew  nothing  about  it, ....  Nikolushka, 
....  my  darling  !  " 

"Here   he   is  ....ours   again....  my  darling,   Kolya 

How  you  have  changed ! ....  There  are  no  lights  !     Bring 
tea ! " 

"  Now  kiss  me  !  " 

"Dushenka,  dear  heart, ....  and  me  too  !  " 

Sonya,  Natasha,  Petya,  Anna  Mikhailovna,  Viera,  the 
old  count,  were  all  embracing  him  ;  and  the  servants 
and  the  maids,  crowding  into  the  room,  were  exclaiming 
and  oh-ing  and  ah-ing. 

Petya,  clinging  to  his  legs,  kept  crying,  "  Me,  too !  " 

Natasha,  after  having  thrown  her  arms  around  him 
and  kissed  him  repeatedly  all  over  his  face,  ran  behind 


WAR   AND    PEACE  149 

him,  and  seizing  him  by  the  tail  of  his  coat,  was  jump- 
ing  up  and  down  like  a  goat,  in  the  same  spot,  and 
squealing  at  the  top  of  her  voice. 

On  all  sides  of  him  were  eyes  gleaming  with  tears  of 
joy  and  love  ;  on  all  sides  were  lips  ready  to  be  kissed. 
Sonya,  red  as  kumatch,i  also  held  him  by  the  hand, 
and  all  radiant  with  affection,  gazed  into  his  eyes  which 
she  had  been  so  longing  to  see.  Sonya  was  now  just 
past  sixteen,  and  was  very  pretty,  especially  at  this 
moment  of  joyous,  triumphant  excitement  She  looked 
at  him,  without  dropping  her  eyes,  smiling,  and  almost 
holding  her  breath.  He  looked  at  her  gratefully,  but 
still  he  was  all  the  time  waiting  and  looking  for  some 
one  else.  The  old  countess  had  not  yet  made  her 
appearance. 

And  now  steps  were  heard  at  the  doorway  —  steps 
so  quick  that  they  could  not  be  his  mother's. 

But  it  was  his  mother  in  a  gown  which  he  had  never 
seen  before,  one  that  had  been  finished  since  he  was  gone. 
All  made  way  for  him,  and  he  ran  to  her.  When  they 
met,  she  fell  on  his  heart,  sobbing.  She  could  not  lift 
her  face,  and  only  pressed  it  against  the  cold  silver 
braid  of  his  Hungarian  coat.  Denisof,  coming  into  the 
room  unobserved  by  any  one,  stood  there  also,  and  as 
he  looked  at  them,  he  wiped  his  eyes. 

''  Vasili  Denisof,  the  fwiend  of  your  son,"  said  he, 
introducing  himself  to  the  count,  who  looked  at  him 
With  a  questioning  expression. 

"I  beg  your  pardon.  I  know,  I  know,"  said  the 
count,   embracing  Denisof   and  kissing  him.       '' Niko- 

lushka  wrote Natasha,  Viera,  here  is  Denisof." 

The    same    happy,    enthusiastic    faces    were    turned 
upon  Denisof's  shaggy  figure,  and  crowded  around  him. 
"My   dear 2   Denisof,"   screamed   Natasha;    and  for- 
getting herself  in  her  excitement  and  running  to  him, 
she  threw  her  arms  around  him  and  kissed  him.     All 
were  abashed  at  Natasha's  escapade.     Denisof  also  red- 
dened, but  smiled,  and  taking  Natasha's  hand,  kissed  it. 
Denisof  was  conducted  to  the  room  that  had  been 
1  A  kind  of  fustian.  2  Calubchik. 


^5^ 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


prepared  for  him,  but  the  Rostofs  all  collected  in  the 
divan-room  around  Nikolushka. 

The  Oid  countess  not  letting  go  his  hand,  which  she 
kept  kissing  every  minute,  sat  next  him.  The  others 
standing  around  them  watched  his  every  motion,  word, 
glance,  and  could  not  take  from  him  their  enthusiasti- 
cally  loving  eyes. 

The  brother  and  sisters  quarreled  and  disputed  with 
each  other  for  places  next  him,  and  vied  with  each  other 
in  bringing  him  his  tea,  his  handkerchief,  his  pipe. 

Rostof  was  very  happy  in  the  love  which  they  showed 
him,  but  the  first  moment  of  the  meeting  had  been  so 
beatific  that  his  present  happiness  seemed  a  little  tame, 
and  he  kept  desiring  and  expecting  something  more 
and  more,  and  yet  more. 

The  next  morning  the  travelers  slept  straight  on  till 
ten  o'clock. 

In  the  adjoining  room  there  was  a  confusion  of  sa- 
bers, valises,  sabretashes,  "opened  trunks,  muddy  boots. 
Two  pairs  of  boots  cleaned  and  with  brightened  spurs 
had  just  been  brought  up  and  set  along  the  wall.  Ser- 
vants were  carrying  wash-hand  basins,  hot  water  for 
shaving,  and  well-brushed  clothes. 

There  was  an  odor  of  tobacco  and  of  men. 

"Hey!  Gwishka!  bwing  my  pipe!"  cried  Vaska 
Denisof,  in  his  hoarse  voice.  "Wostof,  wouse  your- 
self!" 

Rostof,  rubbing  his  sleepy  eyes,  lifted  his  disheveled 
head  from  his  warm  pillow. 

''What  is  it.?  late.?" 

"  Late  !  It 's  after  ten  o'clock,"  cried  Natasha's  voice 
in  answer  to  his  question,  and  in  the  next  room  was 
heard  the  rustling  of  starched  dresses,  the  whispering 
and  giggling  of  the  girls,  and  through  the  crack  of  the 
door  could  be  seen  a  flash  of  something  blue  —  ribbons, 
dark  locks,  and  bright  faces.  This  was  Natasha  with 
Sonya  and  Petya,  who  came  to  find  out  whether  their 
friends  were  up. 

"  Nikolenka  !  get  up  !  "  again  was  heard  in  Natasha's 
voice  at  the  door. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  151 

"  Directly !  " 

But  at  this  instant  Petya  in  the  first  room,  having 
spied  and  appropriated  a  saber,  and  experiencing  that 
enthusiasm  which  little  lads  usually  feel  at  the  sight 
of  their  elder  brothers  of  the  army,  and  forgetting  that 
it  was  unbecoming  for  the  girls  to  see  men  undressed 
oushed  open  the  door. 

"  Is  this  your  saber  ?  "  he  cried.  The  maidens  sprang 
away.  Denisof,  with  startled  eyes,  hid  his  hairy  legs 
under  the  counterpane,  looking  at  his  comrade  for  help. 

The  door  let  Petya  through,  and  then  closed  on  him. 
A  sound  of  giggling  was  heard  behind  it. 

"  Nikolenka,  come  out  in  your  dressing-gown !  "  said 
Natasha's  voice. 

"  Is  this  your  saber,"  insisted  Petya,  "  or  is  it  yours  } " 
addressing  with  deepest  respect  the  dark-mustached 
Denisof. 

Rostof  hastily  put  on  his  shoes  and  stockings,  threw 
his  dressing-gown  over  his  shoulders,  and  went  out.  Na- 
tasha had  put  on  one  of  his  spurred  boots  and  was  just 
slipping  her  foot  into  the  other.  Sonya,  as  he  came  in, 
was  whirling  round  and  trying  to  make  a  balloon  of  her 
skirts  and  then  squat  down.  Both  were  dressed  alike 
in  new  blue  dresses,  and  were  fresh,  rosy,  full  of  spirits. 
Sonya  ran  away,  but  Natasha,  putting  her  arm  in  her 
brother's,  drew  him  into  the  divan-room  and  the  two  be- 
gan to  talk.  They  immediately  began  an  endless  series 
of  questions  and  answers  in  regard  to  a  thousand  trifles 
that  would  interest  no  one  else  but  themselves.  Natasha 
laughed  at  every  word  that  he  said  and  that  she  said, 
not  because  there  was  anything  to  laugh  at,  but  be- 
cause she  was  happy,  and  because  she  had  not  the 
abiHty  to  restrain  the  joy  that  expressed  itself  in 
'aughter. 

**  Akh  !  how  nice !  how  delightful !  "  she  kept  exclaim- 
mg.  Rostof  was  conscious  that  under  the  influence  of 
these  warm  rays  of  love,  for  the  first  time  in  a  year  and 
a  half,  his  heart  and  his  face  were  lighted  up  by  the 
childlike  smile  which  he  had  not  smiled  sirce  he  had  lefl 
his  home. 


152  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"  No,  listen,  you  are  now  a  grown-up  man,  are  n't  you? 
I  am  awfully  glad  that  you  are  my  brother!"  She 
touched  his  mustache.  "I  should  like  to  know  what 
you  men  are  like  !  Are  you  like  us  ?  No  ? " 
''What  made  Sonya  run  away?"  asked  Rostof. 
"  Yes,  that  is  a  whole  long  story  !  How  are  you  going 
to  speak  to  her,  —  tJion  ox  you  ?  " 

"Just  as  it  happens,"  said  Rostof. 
^  "  Call  hQvydu,  please  !  I  will  tell  you  why  some  other 
time.  Well,  then,  I  will  tell  you  now.  You  know  that 
Sonya  is  my  dearest  friend,  such  a  friend  that  I  have 
burnt  my  arm  for  her  sake.  Just  look  here !  "  She 
turned  up  her  muslin  sleeve  and  showed  him  a  red  spot 
on  her  long,  thin,  delicate  arm  below  the  shoulder  and 
considerably  above  the  elbow,  in  a  place  where  it  would 
be  hidden  even  by  a  ball  dress. 

'■'  I  burnt  that  spot  so  as  to  prove  how  much  I  loved 
her!  I  simply  heated  a  ruler  in  the  fire  and  held  it 
there !  " 

As  he  sat  in  what  had  formerly  been  his  classroom, 
on  the  sofa  with  the  cushion  on  the  arms,  and  gazing 
into  Natasha's  desperately  lively  eyes,  Rostof  again  fell 
back  into  that  old  world  of  his  childhood,  of  his  home, 
which  no  one  besides  himself  could  understand,  but  which 
appeared  to  him  replete  with  some  of  the  sweetest  joys 
of  life.  And  the  burning  of  the  arm  with  the  ruler,  for 
the  sake  of  exhibiting  love,  seemed  to  him  not  so  sense- 
less ;  he  understood  it,  and  was  not  surprised. 

"  So  that  was  the  way  you  did  ?  was  that  all  ? "  he 
asked. 

''We  are  such  friends,  such  friends !  All  that  matter 
of  the  ruler  was  a  mere  trifle ;  but  we  are  to  be  friends 
forever.  When  she  loves  any  one  it  is  forever;  but  I 
can't  understand  that ;  I  forget  right  away." 

"Well,  what  then.?" 

"Well,  she  loves  you  just  as  she  does  me."  Natasha 
suddenly  blushed.  "Well,  you  remember  what  hap- 
pened just  before  you  went  away.  And  so  she  says 
that  you  have  forgotten  all  about  it  —  she  says  :  '  I  shall 
love  him  always,  but  he  must  be  left  to  his  own  free 


WAR   AND    PEACE  153 

choice.'  That  is  a  fact,  and  is  n't  it  splendid  and  noble 
of  her?  Now,  isn't  it?  very  noble  !  Is  n't  it  ?"  asked 
Natasha,  so  seriously  and  full  of  emotion  that  it  could 
be  seen  that  what  she  said  now  she  had  spoken  ot 
before  with  tears. 

Rostof  was  lost  in  thought. 

"  I  will  not  retract  the  words  that  I  have  given,"  said 
he.  "  And,  besides,  Sonya  is  so  charming  that  any  one 
would  be  a  fool,  a  durak,  to  refuse  such  happiness." 

**  No,  no  !  "  cried  Natasha,  ''she  and  I  have  already 
discussed  that.  We  knew  that  you  would  say  so.  But 
:t  is  impossible,  because,  you  understand,  if  you  say  so, 
you  will  consider  yourself  bound  by  your  word :  it 
would  seem  as  if  she  had  said  this  on  purpose.  It 
would  seem  as  if  you  had  married  her  under  compul- 
sion, and  that  wouldn't  do  at  all." 

Rostof  saw  that  all  this  had  been  well  decided  by 
them.  Sonya  had  struck  him  the  evening  before  by 
her  beauty.  To-day,  just  catching  a  glimpse  of  her,  she 
seemed  to  him  still  prettier.  She  was  a  charming  girl 
of  "sweet  sixteen,"  evidently  passionately  in  love  with 
him  ;  of  that  he  did  not  doubt  for  a  single  instant. 
"  Why  should  n't  he  love  her,  and  even  marry  her  ?  " 
thought  Rostof.  "  But  just  now  there  are  so  many 
pleasures  and  occupations  still  before  me !  —  yes,  they 
have  made  a  wise  decision,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  I  must 
remain  free." 

"  Well,  all  right,"  said  he,  after  their  talk.  "  Akh ! 
But  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you  !  "  he  added.  "  Well, 
and  tell  me,  have  you  changed  toward  Boris  ?  "  asked  he. 

**  Oh,  that 's  all  nonsense,"  cried  Natasha,  laughing. 
"  I  don't  trouble  myself  about  him,  or  any  one  else,  and 
I  don't  want  to  hear  about  it." 

"  Hear  the  girl !     Then  who  is  it  that  you  —  ?  " 

"  I  ?  "  asked  Natasha  in  her  turn,  and  a  smile  of  happi- 
ness spread  over  her  face, "  have  you  ever  seen  Duport  ?  " 

''No." 

"Never  saw  Duport,  the  famous  dancer!'  Then  you 
can't  understand.  Well,  that's  what  I  am  going  to  be  !  " 
Natasha  picked  up  her  skirt  as  dancers  do,  and  curving 


154  WAR    AND    PEACE 

her  arms,  ran  off  a  few  steps,  turned  around,  cut  a 
caper,  whirled  one  leg  around  the  other,  and  standing 
on  the  very  tips  of  her  toes  glided  forward  several  feet. 
"  See  how  I  can  pose  !  That 's  the  way,"  said  she.  But 
she  did  not,  could  not,  keep  herself  on  her  tiptoes. 
"  That 's  what  I  'm  going  to  be.  I  am  never  going  to 
marry  any  one,  but  I  am  going  to  be  a  ballet-dancer ! 
but  don't  you  tell  any  one !  " 

Rostof  laughed  so  loud  and  merrily  that  Denisof  in 
his  room  really  envied  him,  and  Natasha  could  not  help 
joining  in  with  him. 

"  What,  is  n't  that  a  good  idea  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Excellent,  and  so  you  don't  want  to  marry  Bon's  ? " 

Natasha  grew  red  in  the  face. 

"  I  don't  want  to  marry  any  one !  And  I  will  tell 
him  the  same  thing  when  I  see  him." 

"What  an  idea !  "  said  Rostof. 

"Ah,  well,  but  this  is  all  nonsense,"  said  Natasha, 
continuing  to  chatter.  "  But  tell  me  :  is  Denisof  nice  .-*  " 
she  asked. 

"  Yes,  indeed,  he  is." 

"  Well,  good-by,  now ;  go  and  finish  dressing.  And 
is  n't  he,  is  n't  Denisof,  terrible  ?  " 

"Why  should  he  be  terrible.'*"  inquired  Nicolas. 
"  No !     Vaska  is  a  splendid  fellow." 

"  Do  you  call  him  Vaska  ?  how  funny  !  And  so  he  's 
very  nice,  is  he  .-*" 

"  Yes,  very  nice." 

"  Well,  then,  come  down  to  tea  as  quick  as  you  can. 
We  shall  all  be  together." 

And  Natasha  stood  on  her  tiptoes  and  glided  from 
the  room  after  the  manner  of  a  ballet-dancer,  but  smiling 
all  the  time,  just  as  happy  young  girls  of  fifteen  are 
wont  to  smile. 

When  Rostof  met  Sonya  in  the  drawing-room,  he 
reddened.  He  did  not  know  how  to  behave  toward 
her.  The  evening  before,  they  had  kissed  each  other, 
in  the  first  joyful  moment  of  meeting  again  ;  but  to-day 
they  both  felt  that  it  was  impossible  to  do  so  ;  he  im- 
•^gined  that  every  one,  his  mother  and  his  sisters,  were 


WAR    AND    PEACE  155' 

looking  inquisitively  at  him,  and  wondering  how  he 
would  conduct  himself  toward  her.  He  kissed  her 
hand,  and  called  her  by  the  formal  vui,  you — Sonya. 
But  their  eyes  met,  and  said  to  each  other  the  tender, 
////,  thou,  and  expressed  the  kisses  that  were  not  ex- 
changed. Her  glance  seemed  to  ask  forgiveness  for 
having,  through  the  mediation  of  Natasha,  dared  to 
remind  him  of  his  promise,  and  thanked  him  for  his 
love.  He,  with  his  glance,  in  turn,  thanked  her  for 
offering  him  his  freedom,  and  assured  her  that  he 
should  never  cease  to  love  her,  since  it  was  impossible 
not  to  love  her. 

"  But  how  funny  it  is,"  said  Viera,  breaking  the  gen- 
eral silence.  "Sonya  and  Nikolenka  meet  as  if  they 
were  strangers,  and  call  each  other  'you.'  " 

Viera's  remark  was  true  enough,  like  all  her  remarks, 
but,  like  most  of  her  remarks,  it  was  awkward  for  all 
concerned,  and  not  only  Sonya,  Nikolai,  and  Natasha, 
but  the  old  countess  also,  who  dreaded  lest  her  son 
should  fall  in  love  with  Sonya  and  thus  fail  to  make  a 
brilliant  marriage,  blushed  like  a  girl. 

Denisof,  to  Rostof's  amazement,  made  his  appearance 
in  the  drawing-room  in  a  new  uniform,  pomaded  and 
scented,  with  as  much  ceremony  as  if  he  were  going  out 
to  battle,  and  showed  himself  so  polite  to  the  ladies  and 
gentlemen  present  that  Rostof  could  hardly  believe  his 
eyes. 


CHAPTER   II 

Nikolai  Rostof,  on  his  return  to  Moscow  from  the 
army,  was  welcomed  by  the  home  circle  as  the  best  of 
sons,  as  a  hero,  and  their  darHng  Nikolushka ;  by  his 
relatives,  as  a  fine,  attractive,  and  distinguished  young 
man  ;  by  his  acquaintances,  as  a  handsome  lieutenant  of 
hussars,  a  graceful  dancer,  and  one  of  the  best  matches 
in  town. 

Every  one  in  Moscow  knew  the  Rostofs.  This  year 
the  old  count  had  plenty  of  money,  having  mortgaged 


156  WAR    AND    PEACE 

all  his  possessions,  and  consequently  Nikolushka,  who 
kept  his  own  fast  trotter,  and  wore  the  most  stylish  rid- 
ing trousers,  of  the  latest  cut,  such  as  had  never  before 
been  seen  in  Moscow,  and  likewise  the  most  fashion- 
able boots,  with  very  pointed  toes  and  little  silver  spurs, 
was  enabled  to  spend  his  time  very  agreeably. 

Now  that  he  was  at  home  again,  after  a  considerable 
lapse  of  time,  he  experienced  the  pleasant  sensation  of 
accommodating  himself  to  the  old  conditions  of  Hfe.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  he  had  grown  to  be  very  much  of  a 
man.  His  despair  at  not  having  been  able  to  pass  his 
examination  in  the  catechism,  his  borrowing  of  money 
from  Gavrilo  for  ar  Izvoshchik,  his  clandestine  kisses 
with  Sonya,  all  came  back  to  him  as  remembrances  of 
a  childhood  from  which  he  was  now  immeasurably 
separated.  Now  he  was  a  lieutenant  of  hussars,  in  a 
silver-laced  jacket,  with  the  cross  of  Saint  George,  and 
he  could  enter  his  own  racer,  together  with  well-known, 
experienced,  and  respected  amateurs.  There  was  a  lady 
of  his  acquaintance  on  the  boulevard,  with  whom  he  liked 
to  spend  his  evenings.  He  took  the  lead  of  the  mazurka 
at  the  Arkharofs',  discussed  war  with  Field-Marshal 
Kamiensky,  was  an  habitue  of  the  English  Club,  and 
was  on  "  thou  "  terms  with  a  colonel  of  forty  years,  to 
whom  Denisof  had  introduced  him. 

His  passion  for  his  sovereign  had  somewhat  cooled 
since  his  return  to  Moscow,  since  he  did  not  see  him 
and  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  him;  but  he  often 
talked  about  him,  and  of  his  love  for  him,  giving  people 
to  understand  that,  he  did  not  tell  all,  that  there  was 
something  in  his  feeling  toward  the  emperor  that  was 
not  comprehensible  to  all  men,  and  with  his  whole  soul 
he  entered  into  the  sentiment,  general  at  that  period  in 
Moscow,  of  devotion  to  the  Emperor  Alexander  Pavlo- 
vitch,  who  was  called  then  angel  vo  ploti,  an  angel  in 
the  flesh,  or  an  angel  on  earth. 

During  Rostof's  short  stay  in  Moscow,  before  he  re- 
turned to  the  army,  instead  of  growing  nearer  to  Sonya 
he  rather  drifted  away  from  her.  She  was  very  pretty 
and  sweet,  and  was  evidently  deeply  in  love  with  him ; 


WAR   AND    PEACE  157 

but  he  had  reached  that  period  of  young  manhood  when 
there  seem  to  be  so  many  things  to  do  that  no  time 
is  left  for  this,  and  the  young  man  is  afraid  of  binding 
himself  irrevocably,  and  learns  to  prize  his  freedom, 
since  it  is  necessary  to  him  for  other  things.  When  he 
thought  of  Sonya  during  these  days  of  his  visit  at  home, 
he  would  say  to  himself  :  — 

'*  Eh !  there  are  many,  many  more  as  good  as  she  is, 
vvhom  I  have  not  had  a  chance  to  see  as  yet.  I  shall 
have  time  enough  whenever  I  want  to  engage  myself 
and  fall  in  love,  but  now  I  will  have  none  of  it." 

Moreover,  it  seemed  to  him  that  there  was  something 
rather  derogatory  to  his  manhood  to  spend  his  time  in 
the  society  of  the  ladies.  If  he  went  to  balls  and  into 
the  society  of  women,  he  pretended  that  he  did  so 
against  his  will.  Races,  the  English  Club,  junketing 
with  Denfsof,  and  visits  there  were  quite  a  different 
affair :  such  things  were  becoming  to  a  gay  young 
hussar ! 

About  the  middle  of  March,  the  old  Count  Ilya 
Andreyevitch  Rostof  was  occupied  with  the  prepara- 
tions for  a  dinner  to  be  given  at  the  English  Club  in 
honor  of  Prince  Bagration. 

The  count  in  his  dressing-gown  was  walking  up  and 
down  his  drawing-room,  giving  orders  to  the  club  stew- 
ard and  the  famous  Feoktist,  the  old  cook  of  the  Eng- 
lish Club,  in  regard  to  asparagus,  fresh  cucumbers, 
strawberries,  veal,  and  fish  for  the  dinner  to  the  prince. 

The  count,  ever  since  the  founding  of  the  club,  had 
been  a  committeeman  and  the  leading  spirit.  He  had 
been  appointed  by  the  club  to  oversee  the  entertainment 
for  Prince  Bagration,  because  no  one  knew  so  well  as  he 
did  how  to  organize  a  banquet  on  a  broad  and  hospitable 
scale,  and  especially  because  no  one  else  could  or  would 
spend  his  own  money  if  it  were  necessary  to  make  it  a 
success.  The  cook  and  steward  of  the  club  listened  to 
the  count's  orders  with  happy  faces,  because  they  knew 
that  for  their  advantage  there  was  no  better  person  for 
them  to  have  to  manage  a  dinner  costing  several  thou- 
sand rubles. 


158  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"  Now  see  here,  put  esparcet  in  the  turtle  soup,  es- 
parcet,  you  know." 

**  Must  there  be  three  kinds  of  cold  dishes  ? "  asked 
the  cook. 

The  count  pondered :  "  Certainly  not  less  than  three 
—  mayonnaise,  one ...."  said  he,  beginning  to  count 
them  on  his  fingers. 

'*  Do  you  wish  me  to  order  some  large  sterlet  ?  "  inter- 
rupted the  steward. 

"  What  shall  we  do  if  there  are  no  good  ones }  Yes, 
batyushka,  certainly — I  came  near  forgetting.  See 
here,  we  must  have  another  ejitree  on  the  table.  O 
dear  me  !  "  he  put  his  hands  to  his  head.  "  Now  who  is 
going  to  get  me  flowers.? ....  Mitenka !  ah!  Mitenka  — 
hurry  off,  Mitenka  !  "  he  cried  to  his  overseer,  who 
came  in  at  his  call,  "  hurry  off  to  my  estate  pod-Mos- 
kovnaya,^  and  tell  Maksimka,  the  gardener,  to  get  up 
the  decorations.  Tell  him  to  have  all  the  greenhouses 
stripped,  and  the  flowers  sent  up,  well  wrapped  in  felt. 
Let  him  have  two  hundred  flower-pots  here  by  Friday." 

Having  given  a  profusion  of  various  other  orders,  he 
was  just  going  to  the  "  little  countess's  "  room  to  rest, 
but  remembering  some  important  item  he  turned  round, 
called  back  the  steward  and  cook,  and  began  to  give  still 
further  orders. 

Just  then  in  the  doorway  were  heard  the  light  steps 
of  a  man,  the  jingling  of  spurs,  and  the  young  count, 
handsome,  ruddy-faced,  with  dark  mustache,  came 
into  the  room ;  it  was  evident  that  the  lazy,  easy-going 
life  in  Moscow  agreed  with  him. 

"Akh!  my  dear  boy ,2  how  my  head  whirls!"  said 
the  old  man,  smiling  at  his  son  with  a  sort  of  humiliated 
expression.  "  Come  now,  if  you  'd  only  help  me  !  We 
really  must  have  some  more  singers.  I  shall  have  my 
own  orchestra,  but  what  should  you  think  of  getting 
the  gypsies .?  Your  brotherhood  of  military  men  like 
them." 

"  It 's  a  fact,  papenka  !  I  think  that  Prince  Bagration, 
when  he  was  getting  ready  for  the  battle  of  Schongra- 

1  Any  estate  in  the  suburbs  of  Moscow.  2  Brdtecs  mot. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  159 

ben,  did  not  make  such  hard  work  of  it  as  you  are  doing 
now,"  said  the  young  man  with  a  smile. 

The  old  count  pretended  to  be  angry  :  — ■ 

"Yes,  you  talk,  just  try  it  yourself  !  " 

And  the  count  turned  to  the  cook,  who  with  an  intel- 
ligent and  respectful  face  was  looking  on,  with  friendly 
and  flattering  eyes,  at  the  father  and  son. 

"  That  's  the  way  with  the  young  men,  hey,  Feok- 
tist  ? "  said  he.  "  Always  making  sport  of  us  old 
fellows !  " 

"  That 's  so,  your  illustriousness,  all  they  want  is  to 
have  good  things  to  eat  and  drink,  but  how  it  's  got  and 
served  is  no  concern  of  theirs." 

"That's  it,  that's  it,"  cried  the  count,  and  gayly 
seizing  his  son's  two  hands,  cried :  "  Now  this  is  what  I 
want,  since  I  have  you.  Take  the  sledge  and  pair  and 
hurry  off  to  Bezukhoi's  and  tell  him  that  the  count,  that 
is  Ilya  Andreyitch,  sent  to  ask  for  some  fresh  straw- 
berries and  pineapples.  No  one  else  has  any  at  all.  If 
he  himself  is  not  there,  then  find  the  princesses  and 
ask  them ;  and  from  there,  mind  you,  drive  to  the  Raz- 
gulyai  —  Ipatka,  the  coachman,  will  know  the  way  — 
and  there  find  Ilyushka  the  Tsigan,  the  one  who  danced 
and  sang  in  a  white  kazakin  at  Count  Orlof's,  you  re- 
member, and  bring  him  with  you  to  me  here." 

"  Shall  I  bring  some  of  the  Tsigan  girls  with  him 
too  ?  "  asked  Nikolai,  laughing.     "  There  !   there  !  " 

At  this  moment,  with  noiseless  steps,  and  with 
her  indefatigable  and  anxious,  and  at  the  same  time 
sweet  and  Christian,  expression,  which  never  deserted 
her,  Anna  Mikhai'lovna  came  into  the  room.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  Anna  Mikhai'lovna  every  day  discovered 
the  count  in  his  dressing-gown,  each  time  he  was  much 
abashed,  and  offered  her  apologies  for  his  costume. 

"  No  matter,  count,  my  dear,"  said  she,  blandly  clos- 
ing her  eyes.  "  I  myself  am  going  to  the  Bezukhois'. 
Pierre  has  come,  and  now  we  can  get  anything  from  his 
greenhouses.  I  have  been  vv^anting  to  see  him.  He 
sent  me  a  letter  from  Boris.  Glory  to  God  !  —  Borya  is 
now  on  the  staff." 


i6o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

The  count  was  delighted  to  have  one  part  of  his  com- 
mission undertaken  by  Anna  Mikhatlovna,  and  bade 
her  make  use  of  the  coupe. 

"  You  tell  Bezukhoi"  to  come.  I  will  write  him  a 
note.  How  are  he  and  his  wife  getting  along  ?  "  asked 
the  count. 

Anna  Mikhai'lovna  rolled  up  her  eyes,  and  her  face 
expressed  deep  affliction. 

"  Akh,  my  dear  !  he  's  very  unhappy,"  said  she  ;  "  if 
it  is  true,  what  we  have  heard,  it  is  terrible  !  And 
could  we  have  dreamed  of  such  a  thing,  when  we  re- 
joiced so  in  his  happiness  !  And  such  a  lofty,  heavenly 
soul  this  young  Bezukhoi  is  !  Yes,  I  pity  him  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart !  and  I  mean  to  do  all  that  within 
me  lies,  to  give  him  consolation." 

"Tell  us,  what  is  it.''"  asked  both  the  Rostofs,  elder 
and  younger. 

Anna  Mikhai'lovna  drew  a  deep  sigh. 

"  Dolokhof,  Marya  Ivanovna's  son,"  said  she,  in  a 
mysterious  whisper,  "  has,  so  they  say,  absolutely  com- 
promised her.  Pierre  introduced  him  to  her,  took  him 
to  his  own  house  in  Petersburg,  and  now....  she  came 
here  and  that  madcap  fellow  followed  her,"  said  Anna 
Mikhailovna,  trying  to  express  her  sympathy  for  Pierre, 
but  involuntarily,  by  the  inflections  of  her  voice  and  by 
the  half-smile  on  her  face,  showing  more  sympathy  for 
the  "madcap  fellow,"  as  she  called  Dolokhof.  "They 
say  Pierre  is  perfectly  broken  by  his  trial." 

"  Well,  then,  be  sure  to  tell  him  to  come  to  the  club. 
It  will  help  to  distract  him.  It  will  be  a  stunning 
banquet !  " 

On  the  next  day,  the  fifteenth  of  March,  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon,  two  hundred  and  fifty  members  of  the 
English  Club  and  fifty  guests  were  waiting  for  their 
distinguished  guest.  Prince  Bagration,  the  hero  of  the 
Austrian  campaign. 

At  first  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  had  been 
received  at  Moscow  with  incredulity.  The  Russians 
had  been  so  accustomed  to  victory,  that  when  they  heard 
of  the  defeat,  some  simply  refused  to  believe  it,  others 


WAR   AND    PEACE  i6i 

sought  explanations  for  such  a  strange  circumstance  in 
extraordinary  causes.  In  the  month  of  December,  when 
the  news  was  fully  confirmed,  at  the  English  Club, 
which  was  a  rendezvous  for  all  men  of  note,  or  who  had 
trustworthy  sources  of  information,  and  everywhere  else, 
nothing  was  said  about  the  war  and  the  recent  defeat, 
just  as  if  there  had  been  common  consent  to  hush  the 
matter  up.  Men  who  were  apt  to  give  the  cue  to  con- 
versation—  for  instance  Count  Rostopchin,  Prince  Yuri 
Vladimirovitch  Dolgoruky,  Valuyef,  Count  Markof, 
Prince  Vyazemsky  —  did  not  show  themselves  at  the 
club  at  all,  but  met  at  their  own  houses  in  their  own 
intimate  circles,  and  the  rest  of  the  Moscovites,  who 
never  had  any  opinions  of  their  own,  —  and  in  this  num- 
ber we  must  reckon  also  Ilya  Andreyitch  Rostof ,  —  re- 
mained for  a  short  time  without  any  definite  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  war,  and  without  their  natural  leaders. 

These  Moscovites  had  a  dim  idea  that  something 
was  wrong,  and  that  it  was  hard  to  arrive  at  a  proper 
judgment  in  regard  to  this  bad  news,  and  therefore  they 
preferred  to  keep  silent. 

But  after  some  time,  when  the  bigwigs  who  directed 
opinion  at  the  club  came  back  like  jurors  after  a  consul- 
tation in  the  jury-room,  then  all  was  made  clear  and  defi- 
nite. Reasons  were  found  for  this  incredible,  unheard- 
of,  and  impossible  circumstance,  that  the  Russians  were 
beaten.  It  now  became  perfectly  clear,  and  one  and  the 
same  thing  was  said  in  all  the  corners  of  Moscow.  These 
were  the  reasons  :  The  treachery  of  Austria,  the  wretched 
victualing  of  the  troops,  the  treason  of  the  Pole  Prscze- 
biszewsky  and  the  Frenchman  Langeron,  the  incapacity 
of  Kutuzof,  and  —  spoken  with  bated  breath  —  the  youth 
and  inexperience  of  the  sovereign,  who  had  placed  his 
confidence  in  inefficient  and  insignificant  men. 

But  the  army,  the  Russian  army,  —  and  all  agreed  in 
regard  to  this,  —  was  extraordinary,  and  had  accom- 
plished prodigies  of  valor.  Soldiers,  officers,  generals, 
all  were  heroes.  But  the  hero  of  heroes  was  Prince 
Bagration,  who  had  won  imperishable  glory  by  his  vic- 
tory of  Schongraben  and  his  retreat  at  Austerlitz,  where 

VOL.  II.  —  II 


i62  WAR   AND    PEACE 

he  alone  had  led  off  his  division  unbroken,  and  had 
fought  the  livelong  day  against  an  enemy  double  his 
numbers.  What  added  still  more  ^clat  to  his  repute  as 
a  hero  was  the  fact  that  he  had  no  kin  in  Moscow,  and 
was  a  foreigner.  He  was  considered  as  the  representa- 
tive of  the  simple  heroic  Russian  soldier,  who  had  won 
his  way  without  connections  and  intrigues,  and  was 
moreover  associated  with  recollections  of  the  Italian 
campaign,  and  the  name  of  Suvorof.  And  then  again, 
by  showing  him  such  distinguished  honors,  it  was  felt 
that  there  could  be  no  better  way  of  showing  Kutuzof 
ill-will  and  disapprobation. 

'*  If  there  were  no  Bagration,  we  should  have  to 
manufacture  one,"  said  the  jester  Shinshin,  with  a 
parody  on  Voltaire's  witticism.  Scarcely  any  one  spoke 
of  Kutuzof,  and  those  who  did  abused  him  under  their 
breath,  calling  him  the  court  weathercock  and  an  old 
satyr. 

Prince  Dolgorukof's  witticism  was  repeated  all  over 
Moscow :  "  Stick  to  the  plaster,  and  you  '11  become  a 
master;"  thus  he  consoled  himself  for  our  defeat  by 
the  remembrance  of  former  victories.  Men  likewise 
freely  quoted  Rostopchin's  clever  saying,  that  "you 
have  to  spur  the  French  soldier  to  battle  with  high- 
sounding  phrases ;  the  Germans  must  have  it  logically 
proved  to  them  that  it  is  more  dangerous  to  run  away 
than  it  is  to  advance ;  while  the  Russian  soldier,  on  the 
contrary,  must  be  held  back  and  urged  to  go  gently." 

On  all  sides  were  heard  new  and  ever  new  tales  of 
individual  examples  of  heroism  shown  by  our  officers 
and  soldiers  at  Austerlitz.  This  man  saved  a  standard, 
that  one  killed  five  Frenchmen,  the  other  alone  loaded 
five  cannons.  They  spoke  of  Berg,  even  those  who  did 
not  know  him,  and  told  how,  when  he  was  wounded  in 
his  right  arm,  he  took  his  sword  in  his  left  hand  and 
dashed  forward.  Nothing  was  heard  of  Bolkonsky,  and 
only  those  who  knew  him  intimately  lamented  his  pre- 
mature death,  and  pitied  his  wife  with  her  unborn  child, 
and  his  whimsical  old  father. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  163 


CHAPTER  III 

On  the  fifteenth  of  March,  in  all  the  rooms  of  the 
English  Club,  was  heard  the  hum  of  busy  voices,  and, 
like  bees  at  the  spring  s warming-time,  the  members 
and  guests  of  the  club,  dressed  in  uniforms,  dress-coats, 
and  some  even  in  powder  and  kaftans,  roamed  back  and 
forth,  sat  down,  stood  up,  met  and  parted.  _  Powdered 
and  liveried  footmen  in  small-clothes  and  slippers  stood 
at  each  door,  and  strove  eagerly  to  anticipate  each  motion 
of  the  guests  and  members,  so  as  to  offer  their  services. 
The  majority  of  those  present  were  well  on  in  years,  men 
of  distinction,  with  broad,  self-satisfied  faces,  plump  fin- 
gers, resolute  gestures  and  voices.  The  guests  and 
members  of  this  class  occupied  the  well-known  places 
of  honor,  and  were  surrounded  by  little  circles  of  well- 
known  and  distinguished  men. 

Those  that  formed  the  minority  were  chance  guests, 
preeminently  young  men,  among  whom  were  Denisof, 
Rostof,  and  Dolokhof,  the  last  being  now  an  officer  of  the 
Semyonovsky  regiment  once  more.  The  faces  of  these 
young  men,  especially  those  that  belonged  to  the  army, 
wore  that  expression  of  contemptuous  deference  toward 
their  elders,  which  seemed  to  say  to  the  older  genera- 
tion: 'We  are  ready  to  respect  and  honor  you,  but 
remember  that  nevertheless  the  future  is  ours.' 

Nesvitsky  was  there,  also,  in  the  capacity  of  a  former 
member  of  the  club. 

Pierre,  who,  by  his  wife's  advice,  had  let  his  hair  grow, 
renounced  his  spectacles,  and  dressed  in  the  height  of 
style,  wandered  through  the  rooms  with  a  melancholy 
and  dismal  mien.  As  usual,  he  was  surrounded  by  that 
atmosphere  of  worship  offered  by  those  who  bow 
before  riches,  and  he,  having  now  become  accustomed 
to  this  dominion,  treated  such  sycophants  with  careless 
scorn. 

In  years  he  should  have  associated  with  the  young 
men,  but  by  his  wealth  and  importance  he  gravitated 
toward  the  circles  of  the  older  and  more  influential  guests, 


164  WAR    AND    PEACE 

and  consequently  he  drifted  from  one  group  to  another. 
Central  circles  were  formed  by  some  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished old  men,  around  whom  respectfully  gathered 
many  of  the  less  conspicuous,  for  the  purpose  of  listen- 
ing to  the  great  ones.  Such  groups  were  formed  around 
Count  Rostopchin,  Valuyef,  and  Naruishkin.  Rostop- 
chin  was  telling  how  the  Russians  were  caught  by  the 
fugitive  Austrians  and  obliged  to  force  their  way  through 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

Valuyef  confidentially  announced  that  Uvarof  had 
been  sent  from  Petersburg  to  learn  the  opinion  of  the 
Moscovites  in  regard  to  Austerlitz, 

In  the  third  great  circle,  Naruishkin  was  telling  about 
a  session  of  an  Austrian  council  of  war  at  which  Suvorof 
crowed  like  a  cock  in  answer  to  the  absurdities  spoken 
by  the  Austrian  generals.  Shinshin,  who  formed  one 
of  the  group,  tried  to  raise  a  laugh  by  saying  that  evi- 
dently Kutuzof  had  not  been  able  to  learn  of  Suvorof 
even  such  a  simple  thing  as  to  crow  like  a  cock;  but  the 
elderly  men  looked  sternly  at  the  jester,  giving  him 
thereby  to  feel  that  on  such  a  day,  and  in  such  a  place, 
it  was  so  unseemly  to  speak  of  Kutuzof ! 

Count  Ilya  Andreyitch  Rostof,  in  his  soft  boots,  hov- 
ered, full  of  anxiety  and  solicitude,  between  the  dining- 
room  and  the  parlors,  giving  always  the  same  hasty 
greeting  to  every  one  he  met,  whether  men  of  mark  or 
not  men  of  mark,  his  acquaintance  including  every  one, 
without  exception,  occasionally  looking  around  for  his 
handsome  young  son,  at  whom  he  would  look  with  de- 
light and  a  nod  of  satisfaction.  Young  Rostof  was 
standing  in  the  embrasure  of  a  window,  with  Dolokhof, 
whose  acquaintance  he  had  recently  made  and  felt  to  be 
congenial. 

The  old  count  came  up  to  them  and  shook  hands  with 
Dolokhof:  — 

"I  beg  of  you  to  come  and  see  us;  since  you  and  my 
young  man  here  are  friends ....  you  and  he  played  the 

heroes  together,  yonder Ah  !  Vasili  Ignatyitch!  Good 

afternoon,  old  friend,"  cried  he,  turning  to  welcome  a 
little  old  man,  just  entering. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  165 

But  he  did  not  have  time  to  add  the  usual  greeting ; 
there  was  a  stir,  and  a  footman  with  awestruck  face 
announced : — 

"  He  has  come." 

The  bell  rang;  the  elders  hastened  forward;  the 
guests,  scattered  in  the  different  rooms,  like  rye  gathered 
up  by  the  shovel,  congregated  in  a  throng,  and  stood  in 
the  great  drawing-room  at  the  door  of  the  hall. 

At  the  entrance  appeared  Bagration,  without  his  hat 
and  sword,  which,  according  to  the  club  custom,  he  had 
left  in  care  of  the  Swiss.  He  was  dressed  not  in  his 
lambskin  cap  with  his  whip  over  his  shoulder,  as  Ros- 
tof  had  seen  him  the  night  before  the  battle  of  Auster- 
litz,  but  in  a  new  and  tight-fitting  uniform,  with  Russian 
and  foreign  orders,  and  with  the  star  of  the  George  on 
his  left  breast.  He  had  evidently  just  had  his  hair  and 
whiskers  trimmed,  and  this  did  not  change  his  appear- 
ance for  the  better. 

His  face  had  a  naively  festive  look,  which,  being  in- 
appropriate to  his  firm,  manly  features,  gave  him  a 
rather  comical  expression. 

Bekleshof  and  Feodor  Petrovitch  Uvarof,  who  came 
together  with  him,  paused  at  the  doorway,  waiting  for 
him,  as  the  guest  of  honor,  to  precede  them.  Bagration 
was  confused,  not  wishing  to  take  advantage  of  their 
politeness ;  there  was  a  little  pause  at  the  entrance,  and 
finally  Bagration,  after  all,  led  the  way.  He  walked 
across  the  inlaid  floor  of  the  reception-room,  awkwardly 
and  bashfully,  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  his  hands ; 
it  would  have  been  much  more  to  his  mind,  and  rnuch 
easier  for  him,  to  cross  a  ploughed  field  under  a  rain  of 
bullets,  as,  for  instance,  he  had  done  when  leading  the 
Kursk  regiment  at  the  battle  of  Schongraben. 

The  older  gentlemen  met  him  at  the  door,  said  a  few 
words  expressive  of  their  delight  at  seeing  such  an 
illustrious  guest,  and,  without  waiting  for  his  reply, 
seized  him,  as  it  were,  and  dragged  him  off  into  the 
drawing-room.  Around  the  doors  of  the  drawing-room 
there  was  such  a  crowd  that  it  was  impossible  to  pass. 
Members  and  guests  crushed  one  another,  and  tried  to 


i66  WAR    AND    PEACE 

look  over  one  another's  shoulders  for  a  glimpse  of  Bagra- 
tion,  as  if  he  were  some  wild  beast. 

Count  Ilya  Andreyitch,  laughing  and  talking  more 
energetically  than,  all  the  rest,  pushed  through  the 
throng,  crying,  "  Make  way,  nwn  cher,  make  way,  please, 
make  way,"  and  led  the  guests  into  the  drawing-room, 
and  placed  them  on  the  central  divan,  where  now  all  th& 
bigwigs  and  the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  club 
gathered  in  an  eager  throng. 

Count  Ilya  Andreyevitch,  again  pushing  his  way 
through  the  crowd,  left  the  room,  but  quickly  reappeared 
with  another  of  the  directors,  bearing  a  huge  silver  sal- 
ver, which  he  presented  to  Prince  Bagration.  On  the 
salver  lay  some  verses  composed  and  printed  in  the 
hero's  honor. 

Bagration,  seeing  the  salver,  looked  around  in  alarm, 
as  if  seeking  for  refuge.  But  all  eyes  demanded  his 
submission,  and  Bagration,  feeling  that  he  was  in  their 
power,  seized  the  salver  resolutely  with  both  hands,  and 
looked  gravely  and  reproachfully  at  the  count,  who 
brought  it  to  him.  Some  one  gallantly  relieved  the 
prince  of  the  salver  —  for  otherwise,  he  would  have 
evidently  felt  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  hold  it  in  his 
hands  till  evening,  and  even  gone  out  to  dinner  with  it 
—  and  directed  his  attention  to  the  ode.  *  Well,  I  will 
read  it,'  Prince  Bagration  seemed  to  say,  and  fastening 
his  weary  eyes  on  the  parchment,  tried  to  read  it  with 
serious  and  concentrated  attention.  But  the  composer 
of  the  ode  took  it  and  began  to  read  it  aloud  :  Slav  tako 
Aleksaiidra  vyek.  Prince  Bagration  bent  his  head  and 
listened  :  — 

"  Pride  of  Alexander's  age  ! 
Be  of  our  Titus'  throne  the  stern  defender  ! 
At  once  the  mighty  chief  and  humble  sage  : 

At  home,  a  Ripheus,  Caesar,  'mid  the  battle's  splendor  ! 

Yes  !  e'en  victorious  Napoieon 
By  sad  experience  knows  Bagration  ! 
Now  justice  to  the  Alcide  Russians  he  must  render 

And  fear  ....■" 

But  even  while   he  was  in  the  midst  of   his  ode,  the 
stentorian  majordomo  proclaimed  ''Dinner  is  served!" 


WAR   AND    PEACE  167 

The  door  was  flung  open,  and  from  the  dining-room 
were  heard  the  resounding  notes  of  the  polonaise : 
"Roll,  ye  thunder  tones  of  victory,  gallant  Russian 
hearts  rejoice,"  and  Count  Ilya  Andreyitch,  giving 
the  author  a  severe  look  for  still  continuing  to  read 
his  verses,  came  and  made  a  low  bow  before  Bagra- 
don. 

All  rose  to  their  feet,  feeling  that  the  dinner  was  of 
more  consequence  than  poetry,  and  again  Bagration  was 
obliged  to  lead  the  way  to  the  dining-room.  He  was 
assigned  to  the  seat  of  honor  between  the  two  Alexan- 
ders, Bekleshof  and  Naruishkin,  which  was  meant  as  a 
delicate  allusion  to  the  name  of  the  sovereign.  Three 
hundred  men  sat  down  at  table,  according  to  their  ranks 
and  stations,  those  most  distinguished  being  nearest 
to  the  guest  of  honor,  just  as  naturally  as  water  flows 
deepest  where  it  is  narrowest. 

Just  before  the  dinner  began,  Count  Ilya  Andreyitch 
presented  his  son  to  the  prince.  Bagration,  recognizing 
him,  mumbled  a  few  words,  awkward  and  incoherent, 
like  everything  else  that  he  said  that  day.  Count  Ilya 
Andreyitch  looked  around  gleefully  and  proudly  on  all 
while  Bagration  was  talking  to  his  son. 

Nikolai  Rostof,  with  Denisof  and  his  new  acquaint- 
ance, Dolokhof,  sat  together  almost  at  the  center  of  the 
table.  Opposite  to  them  sat  Pierre,  next  to  Prince 
Nesvitsky.  Count  Ilya  Andreyitch's  seat  was  opposite 
Bagration,  with  the  other  directors,  and  he  did  the 
honors  to  the  prince,  personifying  in  himself  the  hos- 
pitality of  Moscow. 

His  labors  were  not  spent  in  vain.  The  dinner, 
which  was  served  both  for  those  who  were  keeping 
Lent  and  for  those  who  were  not,  was  magnificent,  but 
still  he  could  not  feel  perfectly  at  ease  until  the  very 
end.  He  kept  beckoning  to  the  butler,  whispering 
directions  to  the  waiters,  and,  not  without  agitation, 
looked  for  the  arrival  of  each  course  which  he  knew  so 
well.     All  passed  off  admirably. 

At  the  second  course,  when  they  brought  on  the  gigan- 
tic sterlet,  at  the  sight  of  which  Ilya  Andreyevitch  flushed 


i68  WAR    AND    PEACE 

with  joy  and  modesty,  the  waiters  began  to  uncork  the 
bottles  and  pour  out  the  champaf^ne. 

After  the  fish,  which  produced  a  great  impression, 
Count  Ilya  Andreyitch  glanced  at  the  other  directors. 
"There  are  so  many  toasts,  it  is  time  to  begin,"  he  said 
in  a  whisper,  and  taking  his  wine-cup  in  his  hand,  he 
got  up.  All  grew  still,  and  waited  what  he  should  have 
to  say. 

"  To  the  health  of  our  sovereign,  the  emperor,"  he 
cried,  and  at  the  same  time  his  kindly  eyes  were  dimmed 
with  tears  of  pleasure  and  enthusiasm.  At  the  same 
time  the  band  broke  out  with  the  polonaise  again: 
"Roll,  ye  thunder  tones."  All  arose  in  their  places 
and  cried  "Hurrah  !  "  and  Bagration  also  joined  in  shout- 
ing with  the  same  voice  which  had  cried  "  Hurrah! "  on 
the  field  of  Schongraben. 

Young  Rostof's  enthusiastic  voice  was  heard  above 
all  the  other  three  hundred.  He  could  hardly  refrain 
from  tears. 

"  Hurrah  for  the  emperor  !  "  he  cried,  "  hurrah  !  " 
Draining  his  glass  at  one  draught,  he  smashed  it  on  the 
floor.  Many  followed  his  example.  And  the  deafening 
shouts  continued  for  a  long  time.  When  silence  was 
restored  the  servants  swept  up  the  broken  glass,  and 
all,  having  resumed  their  seats,  began  to  converse  and 
laugh  again. 

Then  Count  Ilya  Andreyitch  arose  once  more,  and 
proposed  the  health  of  the  hero  of  our  last  campaign, 
Prince  Piotr  Ivanovitch  Bagration,  and  again  the  count's 
blue  eyes  grew  tender  with  tears.  "Hurrah!"  again 
rang  out  the  three  hundred  voices;  but  this  time,  instead 
of  the  band,  the  choir  of  singers  struck  up  a  cantata 
composed  by  Pavel  Ivanovitch  Kutuzof  : 

"  Obstacles  are  naught  to  Russians  ; 
Courage  wins  the  victor's  crown  I 
If  Bagration  leads  our  columns. 
We  shall  hew  the  foemen  down." 

As  soon  as  the  singers  had  finished,  fresh  toasts  kept 
following,  at  which  Count  Ilya  Andreyitch  grew  more 


WAR   AND    PEACE  169 

and  more  sentimental,  and  more  and  more  glasses  were 
smashed,  and  the  shouts  grew  ever  more  boisterous. 
They  drank  to  the  health  of  Bekleshof,  Naruishkin, 
Uvarof,  Dolgorukof,  Apraksin,  Valuyef,  to  the  health 
of  the  directors,  to  the  health  of  the  committeemen,  to 
the  health  of  all  the  members  of  the  club,  to  the  health 
of  all  the  guests  of  the  club,  and  finally,  as  a  special 
honor,  to  the  health  of  the  master  of  ceremonies,  Count 
Ilya  Andreyitch.  At  this  toast  the  count  took  out  his 
handkerchief  and,  hiding  his  face,  actually  wept. 

CHAPTER    IV 

Pierre  sat  opposite  Dolokhof  and  Nikolai  Rostof. 
He  ate  much  and  greedily,  and,  as  usual,  drank  much. 
But  those  who  knew  him  intimately  observed  that  day 
that  a  great  change  had  come  over  him.  He  said  noth- 
ing all  the  time  of  the  dinner ;  scowling  and  frowning, 
he  looked  about  him  ;  or,  with  downcast  eyes  and  a 
look  of  absolute  abstraction,  picked  at  his  nose  with  his 
finger.  His  face  was  gloomy  and  dismal.  Apparently 
he  did  not  see  or  hear  anything  that  was  going  on 
around  him,  and  was  absorbed  in  some  disagreeable  and 
unsolvable  problem. 

This  unsolvable  problem  which  tormented  him  was 
caused  by  the  hints  of  the  princess  in  Moscow  in  regard 
to  Dolokhof 's  intimacy  with  his  wife,  and  by  an  anony- 
mous letter  received  that  very  morning,  wherein  it  was 
said,  in  that  dastardly  mocking  tone  characteristic  of 
anonymous  letters,  that  his  spectacles  did  him  very 
little  good,  and  that  his  wife's  criminal  intimacy  with 
Dolokhof  was  a  secret  for  him  alone. 

Pierre  resolutely  refused  to  heed  the  princess's  insinu- 
ations or  the  letter,  but  it  was  terrible  for  him  to  look 
now  at  Dolokhof,  sitting  opposite  him.  Every  time 
that  his  glance  fell  accidentally  upon  Dolokhof's  hand- 
some, insolent  eyes,  he  was  conscious  of  something 
awful  and  ugly  arising  in  his  soul,  and  he  would  quickly 
turn  away.  Involuntarily  remembering  all  his  wife's 
past,   and   her  behavior  toward   Dolokhof,    Pierre  saw 


lyo  WAR   AND    PEACE 

clearly  that  what  was  expressed  so  brutally  in  the  let- 
ter might  very  well  be  true,  might,  at  least,  seem  true, 
did  it  not  concern  his  wife  ! 

Pierre  could  not  help  recalling  how  Dolokhof,  on 
being  restored  to  his  rank  after  the  campaign,  had  re- 
turned to  Petersburg  and  come  to  him.  Taking  advan- 
tage of  the  friendship  arising  from  their  former  sprees 
together,  Dolokhof  had  come  straight  to  his  house,  and 
Pierre  had  taken  him  in  and  lent  him  money.  Pierre 
remembered  how  Ellen,  with  her  set  smile,  had  ex- 
pressed her  discontent  at  having  Dolokhof  living  under 
their  roof ;  and  how  Dolokhof  had  cynically  praised 
before  him  his  wife's  beauty,  and  how,  from  that  time 
forth  until  his  coming  to  Moscow,  he  had  not  budged 
from  their  house. 

"  Yes,  he  is  very  handsome,"  thought  Pierre,  **  I  know 
him.  In  his  estimation  it  would  be  admirable  sport  to 
besmirch  my  name  and  turn  me  into  ridicule,  just  for 
the  very  reason  that  I  was  doing  so  much  for  him,  and 
taking  care  of  him  and  helping  him.  I  know,  I  under- 
stand, what  spice  it  would  add  in  his  estimation  to  his  vil- 
lany,  if  this  were  true  !  Yes,  if  it  were  true  ;  but  I  don't 
believe  it !     I  have  no  right  to  believe  it,  and  I  cannot !  " 

He  remembered  the  expression  which  Dolokhof's 
face  had  borne  at  times  when  he  was  engaged  in  his 
acts  of  deviltry,  as  for  instance  when  they  had  tied  the 
policeman  to  the  bear  and  flung  them  into  the  river,  or 
when,  without  any  provocation,  he  had  challenged  men 
to  fight  duels,  or  shot  the  post-driver's  ^  horse  dead  with 
his  pistol.  This  expression  he  had  often  noticed  lately 
on  Dolokhof's  face. 

**  Yes,  he  's  a  bully,"  said  Pierre  to  himself  ;  "  he  would 
think  nothing  of  killing  a  man ;  it  is  essential  for  him  to 
think  that  every  one  is  afraid  of  him ;  this  must  be 
pleasant  to  him.  He  must  think  that  I  am  afraid  of 
him.  And  in  fact  I  am  afraid  of  him,"  thought  Pierre, 
and  again  at  these  suggestions  the  awful  and  ugly 
something  arose  in  his  mind. 

Dolokhof,  Denisof,  and  Rostof  were  still  sitting  oppo- 

1  Ydmshchiky  driver  or  postilion. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  171 

site  to  Pierre,  and  seemed  to  be  very  lively.  Rostof 
was  gayly  chatting  with  his  two  friends,  one  of  whonri 
was  a  clever  hussar,  the  other  a  well-known  bully  and 
madcap,  and  occasionally  he  glanced  rather  mockmgly 
at  Pierre,  who  had  impressed  him  by  the  concentrated, 
abstracted,  and  stolid  expression  of  his  countenance. 
Rostof  looked  at  Pierre  with  a  malevolent  expression, 
in  the  first  place  because  Pierre,  in  the  eyes  of  a  hussar 
like  him,  was  merely  a  millionaire  civilian,  the  husband 
of  a  pretty  woman,  and  moreover  was  a  baba—^xv  old 
woman  !  in  the  second  place,  because  Pierre,  m  his 
abstracted  state  of  mind,  did  not  recognize  Rostof,  or 
return  his  bow.  When  they  stood  up  to  drink  the  toast 
to  the  emperor,  Pierre  was  so  lost  in  his  thoughts  that 
he  forgot  to  get  up  with  the  others,  and  did  not  lift  his 
wine-glass. 

''What 's  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  shouted  Rostof,  his 
eyes  flashing  with  righteous  indignation,  as  he  looked 
at  him,  ''why  don't  you  pay  attention;  the  health  of 
our  sovereign,  the  emperor ! "  '         .      ,  ,  . 

Pierre,  with  a  sigh,  humbly  got  to  his  feet,  drained  his 
glass,  and  then,  after  they  had  all  sat  down,  he  turned  to 
Rostof  with  his  good-natured  smile:  "Ah!  I  did  not 
recognize  you,"  said  he.  ^^ 

But  Rostof  was  engaged  in  shouting  "  Hurrah  !      so 
that  this  was  lost  on  him.     "  Are  n't  you  going  to  renew 
the  acquaintance  } "  asked  Dolokhof  of  Rostof. 
"  Curse  the  fool !"  1  ^  ^^ 

"One  must  cawess  a  pwetty  woman's  husband,"  said 
Denisof.  Pierre  did  not  catch  what  they  said,  but  he 
Hnew  that  they  were  talking  about  him.  He  reddened, 
and  turned  away. 

"  Well,  now  to  the  health  of  the  pretty  women  !  said 
Dolokhof,  and  with  a  serious  expression,  though  a  smile 
lurked  in  the  corners  of  his  mouth,  he  lifted  his  glass  to 
Pierre.  "  To  the  health  of  the  pretty  women,  P^trusha, 
and  —  their  lovers  !  "  he  added. 

Pierre,  dropping  his  eyes,  sipped  his  glass,  not  looking 
at  Dolokhof  or  making  him  any  reply. 

1  Bog  s  nim,  durak  :  Uterally,  "  God  be  with  him,  fool  or  idiot." 


172  WAR   AND    PEACE 

A  lackey,  who  was  distributing  copies  of  Kutuzof's 
cantata,  handed  one  of  the  sheets  to  Pierre  as  being 
among  the  more  distinguished  guests.  Pierre  was  go- 
mg  to  take  it,  but  Dolokhof  leaned  over,  snatched  the 
sheet  from  his  hand,  and  began  to  read  it.  Pierre 
stared  at  Dolokhof;  his  pupils  contracted;  that  awful 
and  ugly  something  that  had  been  tormenting  him  all 
the  dmner-time,  now  arose  in  him  and  overmastered  him 
He  leaned  his  heavy  frame  across  the  table. 

"  Don't  you  dare  to  take  it !  "  he  cried. 

Nesvitsky  and  his  right-hand  neighbor,  hearing  him 
speak  m  such  a  tone  of  voice,  and  seeing  whom  he  was 
dealmg  with,  were  filled  with  alarm  and  hastily  tried  to 
calm  him. 

"  That 's  enough  !  "  ....'"  Be  careful !  "  ....  -  Think  what 
you  re  doing ! '  whispered  anxious  voices. 
_    Dolokhof   stared   at  Pierre    with    his    bright,    merry 
insolent  eyes,  and  with  that  smile  of  his  that  seemed  to 
say,  "This  is  what  I  like." 

"I  will  not  give  it  back,"  he  said,  measuring  his  words 

Pale,  with  twitching  lips,  Pierre  snatched  back   the 

sheet  of  paper.      -  You  ....  you  ....  blackguard  ! ....  I  shall 

call  you   to  account  for  this  !  "  he  cried,  and  pushino- 

away  his  chair,  rose  from  the  table. 

At  the  very  instant  that  Pierre  did  this,  and  pronounced 
these  words,  he  felt  that  the  problem  of  his  wife's  guilt 
which  had  been  torturing  him  for  the  past  twenty-four 
hours,  was  finally  and  definitely  settled  beyond  a  perad- 
venture.  He  hated  her,  and  the  breach  between  them 
was  widened  irrevocably. 

In  spite  of  Denisof's  urgency  that  Rostof  should  not 
get  mixed  up  in  this  affair,  Rostof  consented  to  act  as 
Dolokhof  s  second,  and  after  dinner  he  arranged  with 
Nesvitsky,  Bezukhoi's  second,  in  regard  to  the  conditions 
of  the  duel.  Pierre  went  home,  and  Rostof,  together 
with  Denisof  and  Dolokhof,  stayed  at  the  club  till  late 
listening  to  the  gypsies  and  the  singers. 

"Well,  then,  till  to-morrow,  at  Sokolniki,"  said  Dolo^ 
khof,  taking  his  leave  of  Rostof  on  the  club  steps 
"  And  you  are  confident  ?  "  asked  Rostof. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  173 

Dolokhof  paused. 

"  Now,  see  here,  I  will  give  you  in  two  words  the 
whole  secret  of  dueling.  If  you  are  going  to  fight  a 
duel,  and  write  your  will  and  affectionate  letters  to  your 
father  and  mother,  if  you  get  it  into  your  head  that  you 
are  going  to  be  killed,  then  you  are  an  idiot  —  a  durak 
—  and  deserve  to  fall;  but  if  you  go  with  firm  intention 
to  kill  him  as  quickly  and  certainly  as  you  can,  then  you 
are  all  right,  as  our  Kostroma  bear-driver  told  me.  '  How 
can  you  help  being  afraid  of  the  bear  ? '  says  he  ;  *  yes, 
but  when  you  once  see  him,  your  only  fear  is  that  he 
will  get  away.'  Well,  that 's  the  way  it  is  with  me ! 
A  demam,  man  cJier  !  " 

On  the  next  morning,  at  eight  o'clock,  Pierre  and 
Nesvitsky  drove  to  the  woods  of  Sokolniki,  and  found 
there  Dolokhof,  Denisof,  and  Rostof  waiting  for  them. 
Pierre  had  the  aspect  of  a  man  entirely  absorbed  in  his 
reflections  and  absolutely  incognizant  of  the  affair  before 
him.  His  countenance  was  haggard  and  yellow.  He 
had  evidently  not  slept  the  night  before.  He  glanced 
around  him  vaguely,  and  frowned  as  if  he  were  blinded 
by  the  bright  sun.  Two  considerations  exclusively 
occupied  him  :  his  wife's  guilt,  of  which,  after  his  sleep- 
less night,  he  had  no  longer  the  slightest  doubt;  and  the 
innocence  of  Dolokhof,  who  had  no  reason  to  guard  the 
honor  of  a  stranger. 

"  Maybe  I  should  have  done  the  same  thing,  if  I  had 
been  in  his  place,"  said  Pierre  to  himself ;  "  I  am  perfectly 
certain  that  I  should;  why  then  this  duel,  this  homicide  } 
Either  I  shall  kill  him,  or  he  will  put  a  bullet  through  my 
head,  in  my  elbow,  or  my  knee.  Can't  I  get  out  of  it 
somehow,  run  away,  hide  myself  somewhere  t " 

This  thought  came  into  his  mind.  But  at  the  very 
mstant  that  these  suggestions  were  offering  themselves 
to  him,  he,  with  his  usual  calm  and  absent-minded  ex- 
pression,—  which  aroused  the  respect  of  those  who  saw 
him,  —  was  asking  if  all  were  ready  and  they  should 
begin  soon } 

When  all  had  been  arranged,  and  the  swords  stuck 
upright  in  the    snow,  to    mark  the   limits  for  them  to 


174  WAR   AND    PEACE 

advance,  and  the  pistols  had  been  loaded,  Nesvitsky 
went  up  to  Pierre. 

*'I  should  not  be  doing  my  duty,  count,"  said  he,  in 
a  faltering  voice,  *'  or  be  worthy  of  the  confidence  and 
honor  which  you  confide  in  my  hands,  at  this  moment, 
this  most  serious  moment,  if  I  did  not  tell  you  the  whole 
truth.  I  consider  that  this  affair  has  not  sufficient 
reason,  and  does  not  warrant  the  shedding  of  blood. 
You  were  in  the  wrong,  absolutely,  you  were  in  a 
passion." .... 

"Oh,  yes,  it  was  horribly  foolish,"  said  Pierre. 

"  Then  allow  me  to  offer  your  regrets,  and  I  am  sure 
that  your  opponent  will  be  satisfied  to  accept  your  apolo- 
gies,"^  said  Nesvitsky,  who,  like  the  other  participants, 
and  like  all  men  in  similar  affairs,  did  not  believe  even 
now  that  it  would  actually  come  to  a  duel.  —  "You  know, 
count,  that  it  is  far  more  noble  to  acknowledge  one's 
fault,  than  to  carry  an  affair  to  its  irrevocable  conse- 
quences. The  insult  was  not  wholly  on  one  side.  Let 
me  confer." 

"  No  !  there  's  nothing  to  be  said  about  it,"  said  Pierre. 

"It's  all  the  same  to  me Is  everything  ready.?"  he 

asked.  "  Do  you  only  tell  me  where  I  am  to  stand,  and 
where  to  fire,"  he  added,  with  an  unnaturally  sweet  smile. 
He  took  the  pistol  and  began  to  ask  about  the  working 
of  the  trigger,  for  he  had  never  before  held  a  pistol  in 
his  hands,  though  he  was  unwilling  to  confess  it.  "Oh, 
yes,  that 's  the  way....  I  know....  I  had  only  forgotten," 
said  he. 

"No  apologies,  decidedly  not,"  said  Dolokhof  to 
Denisof,  who  also  on  the  other  side  proposed  to  effect 
a  reconciliation,  and  he  also  went  to  the  designated 
place. 

The  place  selected  for  the  duel  was  a  small  clearing 
in  the  fir  woods,  covered  with  what  remained  of  the 
snow  after  the  recent  thaw,  and  about  eighty  paces  from 
the  road  where  the  sledges  were  left.  The  opponents 
stood  about  forty  paces  apart  on  the  border  of  the  clear- 
ing. The  seconds,  while  measuring  off  the  distance^ 
had  trampled  down  the  deep,  wet  snow  between  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  175 

place  where  they  stood  and  Nesvitsky's  and  Denisof's 
sabers,  stuck  upright  ten  paces  apart,  to  mark  the 
bounds.  It  was  thawing,  and  the  mist  spread  around ; 
nothing  could  be  seen  forty  paces  away.  For  three 
minutes,  all  had  been  ready,  and  still  they  hesitated 
about  beginning;  no  one  spoke. 


CHAPTER  V 

"Well,  begin,"  said  Dolokhof. 

"All  right,"  said  Pierre,  still  smiling  as  before. 

It  was  a  solemn  moment.  It  was  evident  that  the 
affair,  which  at  first  had  been  so  trivial,  could  no  longer 
be  averted,  but  was  now  bound  to  take  its  course  to  the 
very  end,  irrespective  of  the  will  of  the  men.  Denisof 
first  went  forward  to  the  barrier  and  announced  :  — 

"As  the  adve'sawies  have  wefused  to  agwee,  we 
may  pwoceed.  Take  your  pistols,  and  at  the  word 
thwee,  advance  and  fire." 

''  U —  one  !  —  two  !  —  thwee  !  "  cried  Denisof,  sternly, 
and  stepped  to  one  side.  The  two  men  advanced  along 
the  trodden  path,  coming  closer  and  closer,  their^  faces 
growing  more  and  more  distinct  to  each  other  in  the 
fog.  The  antagonists  had  the  right  to  fire  at  any  mo- 
ment before  reaching  the  barrier.  Dolokhof  advanced 
slowly,  not  raising  his  pistol,  but  fastening  his  bright, 
glittering  blue  eyes  on  his  opponent's  face.  His  lips 
as  usual  wore  what  seemed  like  a  smile. 

"  So  it  seems  I  can  fire  when  I  please,"  said  Pierre 
to  himself,  and  at  the  word  "three,"  he  advanced  with 
quick  strides,  leaving  the  beaten  path,  and  pushing 
through  the  untrodden  snow.  He  held  the  pistol  in 
his  right  hand  out  at  arm's  length,  apparently  afraid 
of  killing  himself  with  it.  His  left  hand  he  strenu- 
ously kept  behind  his  back,  because  he  felt  such  a 
strong  desire  to  support  his  right  arm  with  it,  which 
he  knew  was  out  of  the  question. 

After  he  had  gone  six  steps,  and  had  left  the  trodden 
path,  he  looked   down  at  his  feet,  then  gave  a  quick 


176  WAR   AND    PEACE 

glance  at  Dolokhof,  and,  pulling  the  trigger,  as  he  had 
been  told  to  do,  fired.  Not  anticipating  such  a  loud 
report,  Pierre  jumped,  and  then,  smiling  at  his  own 
sensations,  stood  stock  still.  The  smoke,  made  heavier 
by  the  misty  atmosphere,  prevented  him  from  seeing 
anything  at  first;  but  there  was  no  second  report,  as 
he  had  expected.  All  he  could  hear  was  Dolokhof  s 
hasty  steps,  and  then  his  form  loomed  up  through  the 
smoke.  He  was  holding  one  hand  to  his  left  side; 
with  the  other  he  clutched  the  pistol,  which  he  did  not 
raise.  His  face  was  pale.  Rostof  had  rushed  up  to 
him,  and  was  saying  something. 

''N  ....  no,"  hissed  Dolokhof  through  his  teeth.  "  No, 
I  'm  not  done  yet,"  and,  making  a  few  tottering,  stag- 
gering steps  toward  the  saber,  he  fell  on  the  snow, 
near  it.  His  left  arm  was  covered  with  blood.  He 
wiped  it  on  his  coat  and  supported  himself  with  it. 
His  face  was  pale  and  contracted,  and  a  spasm  passed 
over  it. 

''I  beg  of  you...."  began  Dolokhof,  but  he  could  not 
speak  coherently.      "  Please  ....  "  said  he,  with  difficulty. 

Pierre,  hardly  restraining  his  sobs,  started  to  run  to 
Dolokhof,  and  was  just  crossing  the  line,  when  Dolo- 
khof cried,  "Stop  at  the  barrier;"  and  Pierre,  realizing 
what  he  meant,  paused  near  the  saber.  They  were 
only  ten  paces  apart.  Dolokhof  bent  his  head  over  to 
the  snow,  greedily  ate  a  mouthful,  lifted  his  head  again, 
straightened  himself  up,  tried  to  get  to  his  feet,  and 
sat  down,  in  his  effort  to  recover  his  equilibrium.  He 
swallowed  the  icy  snow  and  sucked  it;  his  lips  twitched; 
but  he  still  smiled,  and  his  eyes  gleamed  with  concen- 
trated hatred,  as  he  tried  to  collect  his  failing  strength. 
He  raised  the  pistol  and  tried  to  aim. 

**  Stand  sidewise;  protect  yourself  from  the  pistol," 
cried  Nesvitsky. 

"  Pwotect  yourself,"  instinctively  cried  Denisof,  though 
he  was  the  other's  second. 

Pierre,  with  his  sweet  smile  of  compassion  and  re- 
gret, helplessly  dropping  his  arms  and  spreading  his 
legs,  stood   with    his  broad    chest   exposed    directly  to 


WAR   AND    PEACE  177 

Dolokhof,  and    looking   at    him    mournfully.     Denisof, 
Rostof,  and  Nesvitsky  shut  their  eyes. 

They  heard  the  report,  and  simultaneously  Dolo- 
khof's  wrathful  cry. 

''Missed!"  cried  Dolokhof,  and  lay  back  feebly  on 
the  snow,  face  down.  Pierre  clutched  his  temples, 
and  turning  back,  v/ent  into  the  woods,  trampling  down 
the  virgin  snow  and  muttering  incoherent  words. 

''  Folly !  Folly  !  Death  !  Lies !  "  ....  he  kept  repeat- 
ing, with  scowling  brows.  Nesvitsky  called  him  back 
and  took  him  home. 

Rostof  and  Denisof  lifted  the  wounded  Dolokhof. 
They  put  him  in  the  sledge,  where  he  lay  with  closed 
eyes  and  without  speaking  or  making  any  reply  to 
their  questions;  but,  when  they  reached  Moscow,  he 
suddenly  roused  himself,  and,  with  difficulty  raising  his 
head,  seized  Rostof's  hand,  who  was  sitting  next  him. 
Rostof  was  struck  by  the  absolutely  changed  and  un- 
expectedly softened  expression  of  Dolokhof's  face. 
"  Well  ?  How  do  you  feel  now  ?  "  asked  Rostof. 
"  Wretchedly  ;  but  that  is  no  matter.  My  dear,"  said 
Dolokhof,  in  a  broken  voice,  "  where  are  we  ?  We  are 
in  Moscow,  I  know  it.  It 's  no  matter  about  me,  but  I 
have  killed  her,  killed  her ;  she  won't  get  over  this.  She 
won't  survive." 

"Who.?"  asked  Rostof. 

"  My  mother.  My  mother,  my  good  angel,  my  adored 
angel,  my  mother,"  and  Dolokhof  burst  inta  tears,  press- 
ing Rostof's  hand.  When  he  had  grown  a  little  calmer, 
he''  explained  to  Rostof  that  he  lived  with  his  mother, 
and  that  if  his  mother  should  see  him  dying,  she  would 
not  survive  it.  He  begged  Rostof  to  go  and  break  the 
news  to  her. 

Rostof  rode  on  ahead  to  attend  to  this,  and  to  his 
great  surprise  discovered  that  Dolokhof,  this  insolent 
fellow,  this  bully,  Dolokhof,  lived  with  his  old  mother 
and  a  hunchbacked  sister,  and  was  a  most  affectionate 
son  and  brother. 

VOL.  II. — 12 


178  WAR    AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   VI 

Pierre  had  rarely  of  late  seen  his  wife  alone  by 
themselves.  Both  in  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  their 
house  was  constantly  full  of  company. 

On  the  night  that  followed  the  duel  he  did  not  go  to 
his  sleeping-room,  but,  as  was  often  the  case,  stayed  in 
the  vast  cabinet  where  his  father,  the  Count  Bezukhoi, 
had  died. 

He  stretched  himself  out  on  the  sofa,  with  the  idea  of 
forgetting  all  that  had  taken  place  ;  but  this  he  could  n't 
do.  Such  a  tornado  of  thoughts,  feelings,  recollections, 
suddenly  arose  in  his  mind,  that  not  only  he  could  not 
sleep,  but  could  not  keep  still,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
spring  up  from  the  sofa  and  walk  the  room  with  rapid 
strides. 

Now  she  seemed  to  come  up  before  him  as  she  was 
during  the  first  few  weeks  after  their  marriage,  with  her 
bare  shoulders,  and  her  languid,  passionate  eyes  ;  and 
then  immediately  he  would  see  Dolokhof  by  her  side  — 
Dolokhof,  with  his  handsome,  impudent,  mocking  face, 
as  he  had  seen  it  at  the  banquet,  and  then  the  same 
face,  pale,  convulsed,  and  agonized,  as  it  had  been  when 
he  reeled  and  fell  on  the  snow. 

''What  was  it  .^  "  he  asked  himself.  "I  have  killed 
\iQx  paramour !  yes,  I  have  killed  my  w'lio.'^  paramour. 
Yes,  that  was  it.     Why  "^     How  did  it  come  to  this  }  " 

"  Because  you  married  her,"  replied  an  inward  voice. 

"  But  wherein  was  I  to  blame  }  "  he  asked  again. 

"  Because  you  married  her  without  loving  her;  because 
you  deceived  yourself  and  her." 

And  then  he  vividly  recalled  the  moment  after  the 
dinner  at  Prince  Vasili's,  when  he  had  murmured  those 
words,  ''/e  vous  aiine — I  love  you,"  that  had  come 
with  so  much  difficulty. 

"  It  was  all  from  that.  Even  then  I  felt,"  said  he  to 
himself,  "  even  then  I  felt  that  this  was  wrong,  that  I 
had  no  right  to  do  it,  and  so  it  has  proved." 

He  recalled  their  honeymoor^   and   reddened   at  the 


WAR   AND    PEACE  179 

recollection.  Extraordinarily  vivid,  humiliating,  and 
shameful  was  the  recollection  of  how  one  time,  shortly- 
after  their  marriage,  he  had  gone  in  his  silk  dressing- 
gown,  at  twelve  o'clock  in  the  daytime,  from  his  sleeping- 
room  to  his  library,  and  found  there  his  head  overseer, 
who,  with  an  obsequious  bow,  glanced  at  Pierre's  face 
and  at  his  dressing-gown,  while  a  shadow  of  a  smile 
passed  over  his  face,  as  if  he  thereby  expressed  his 
humble  sympathy  in  the  happiness  of  his  master. 

**  And  yet  how  many  times  I  have  been  proud  of  her, 
—  proud  of  her  majestic  beauty,  of  her  social  tact,"  he 
went  on  thinking,  —  "  proud  of.  my  house,  where  she 
received  all  Petersburg,  —  proud  of  her  inaccessibility 
and  radiance.  Yes,  how  proud  I  was  of  it  all !  then  I 
thought  that  I  did  not  understand  her.  How  often, 
when  pondering  over  her  character,  I  said  to  myself  that 
I  was  to  blame,  that  I  did  not  understand  her,  did  not 
understand  her  habitual  repose,  self-satisfaction,  and  lack 
of  all  interests  and  ambition,  and  now  I  have  found  the 
answer  in  that  terrible  expression:  she  is  a  lewd  woman. 
Now  I  have  said  to  myself  that  terrible  word,  all  has 
become  clear ! 

"  Anatol  came  to  her  to  borrow  some  money,  and 
kissed  her  on  her  naked  shoulder.  She  did  not  let  him 
have  the  money,  but  she  was  willing  for  him  to  kiss  her. 
Her  father,  in  jest,  tried  to  make  her  jealous,  and  she, 
with  her  calm  smile,  replied  that  she  was  not  so  stupid 
as  to  be  jealous:  '  Let  him  do  as  he  pleases,'  said  she 
about  me.  I  asked  her  once  if  she  saw  no  signs  of 
approaching  maternity.  She  laughed  scornfully,  and 
replied  that  she  was  not  such  a  fool  as  to  wish  to  have 
any  children,  and  that  I  should  never  get  any  children 
by  her." 

Then  he  recalled  the  coarseness  and  frankness  of  her 
thoughts,  the  vulgarity  of  the  expressions  that  came 
natural  to  her,  in  spite  of  her  education  in  the  highest 
aristocratic  circles.  *' I  am  no  such  fool,"  ''Go  and  try 
it  on  yourself,"  ''  Allez  vons  promener,''  and  such  like 
slang  she  was  fond  of  using. 

Pierre,  witnessing  her  success  in  the  eyes  of  old  and 


i8o  WAR    AND    PEACE 

young,  men  and  women,  had  often  found  it  hard  to  un. 
derstand  why  he  did  not  love  her. 

"  Yes,  and  I  have  never  really  loved  her,"  said  Pierre 
to  himself.  ''  I  knew  that  she  was  a  lewd  woman,"  he 
kept  repeating  to  himself,  ''but  I  did  not  dare  to  ac- 
knowledge it  to  myself.  And  now  there  is  Dolokhof 
sitting  in  the  snow,  and  trying  to  smile,  and  dying 
maybe,  and  responding  to  my  repentance  with  pre- 
tended bravado  !  " 

Pierre  was  one  of  those  men  who,  notwithstanding 
his  affectionate  nature,  which  some  would  call  weak- 
ness of  character,  would  never  seek  a  confidant  for 
his  troubles.  He  worked  out  his  sufferings  alone  by 
himself. 

"  She  is  to  blame,  the  only  one  to  blame  for  all,"  said 
he  to  himself.  *'  But  what  was  back  of  that.?  That  I 
married  her,  that  I  said  to  her,  '  I  love  you,'  which  was 
a  lie,  and  even  worse  than  a  lie,"  said  he  to  himself. 
"I  am^  to  blame  and  must  suffer ....  what .?  The  be- 
smirching of  my  name.?  the  unhappiness  of  my  life.? 
eh!  that's  all  nonsense,"  he  continued,  ''the  disgrace 
to  my  name  and  honor,  all  that  is  conditional,  abso- 
lutely independent  of  me. 

"  Louis  XVI.  was  executed  because  they  said  that  he 
was  a  guilty  offender,"  thus  Pierre  reasoned,  "and  they 
were  right  from  their  point  of  view,  just  as  they  also 
were  right  from  theirs  who  died  a  violent  death  after 
him,  and  who  reckoned  him  among  the  saints.  Then 
Robespierre  was  beheaded  because  he  was  a  tyrant. 
Who  was  right.?  who  was  to  blame?  No  one!  But 
live  while  we  live;  to-morrow  we  die,  just  as  I  might 
easily  have  died  an  hour  ago.  And  is  it  worth  torment- 
ing one's  self  about,  when  life  counts  only  as  a  moment 
in  comparison  with  eternity.?" 

But  even  while  he  was  trying  to  reason  himself  into 
calmness  by  such  a  train  of  thought,  suddenly  she  again 
rose  before  his  imagination,  and  at  one  of  those  moments 
when  he  had  expressed  to  her  more  violently  than  ever 
his  insincere  love,  and  he  felt  how  the  blood  poured  back 
to  his  heart,  and  he  was  obliged  again  to  get  up,  move 


WAR   AND    PEACE  i8i 

about,  and  break  and  smash  whatever  things  came  within 
reach  of  his  hands. 

''  Why  did  I  tell  her  that  I  loved  her  ?  why  did  I  say 
'  I  love  you  '  ?  "  he  kept  asking  himself.  And  after  he 
had  asked  himself  this  question  a  dozen  times,  the  phrase 
of  Moliere  came  into  his  head,  *'  Mais  que  diable  allait 
ilfaire  dans  cette  gaUref  "^  and  he  had  to  laugh  at  him- 
self. 

At  night  he  summoned  his  valet  and  ordered  him  to 
pack  up  in  readiness  to  go  to  Petersburg.  He  could 
not  imagine  himself  having  anything  more  to  say  to  her. 
He  had  decided  to  take  an  early  departure  the  next  day, 
leaving  her  a  letter  in  which  he  should  explain  his  in- 
tention of  living  apart  from  her  for  evermore. 

The  next  morning,  when  the  valet,  bringing  him  his 
coffee,  came  into  the  cabinet,  Pierre  was  lying  on  an 
ottoman,  asleep,  with  an  open  book  in  his  hand. 

He  aroused  himself,  and  looked  around  for  some  time 
with  a  startled  expression,  wholly  unable  to  understand 
where  he  was. 

''The  countess  commanded  to  ask  if  your  illustrious- 
ness  were  at  home,"  said  the  valet. 

But  before  Pierre  had  time  to  decide  what  answer  to 
give,  the  countess  herself,  in  a  morning-gown  of  white 
satin  embroidered  in  silver,  and  with  her  hair  dressed  in 
the  simplest  style  —  two  enormously  long  braids  wound 
twice,  en  diadhne,  around  her  graceful  head  —  came  into 
the  room  calmly  and  majestically  ;  only  on  her  marble 
forehead,  which  was  a  little  too  prominent,  there  was  a 
deep  frown  of  fury.  With  thoroughly  masterful  self- 
restraint,  she  did  not  say  a  word  in  the  valet's  presence. 
She  had  heard  of  the  duel,  and  had  come  to  speak  about 
it.  She  waited  until  the  valet  had  set  down  the  coffee 
and  left  the  room.  Pierre  looked  at  her  timidly  over 
his  spectacles,  and,  like  a  hare  surrounded  by  dogs, 
which  lays  back  its  ears  and  crouches  motionless  before 
its  enemies,  so  he  also  pretended  to  take  up  his  reading 
again;  but  he  was  conscious  that  this  was  a  senseless 
and  impossible  thing  to  do,  and  again  he  looked  at  her 

1  "  What  business  had  he  there?  " 


i82  WAR    AND    PEACE 

She  did  not  sit  down,  but  with  a  scornful  smile  stared  at 
him,  waiting  until  the  valet  should  be  out  of  the  room. 

I'  Well,  now,  what 's  this  latest  ?  What  have  you  been 
doing?     I  demand  an  answer!  "  said  she,  sternly. 

"  I ....  what  have  I ....  ?  "  stammered  Pierre. 

''  Playing  the  bravado,  hey  ?  Come  now,  answer  me ; 
what  about  this  duel  ?  What  did  you  mean  to  imply  by 
it  ?     What.?     I  demand  an  answer  !  " 

Pierre  turned  heavily  on  the  sofa,  opened  his  mouth, 
but  could  not  make  a  sound. 

"  If  you  won't  answer,  then  I  will  tell  you,"  continued 
Ellen.  "  You  believe  everything  that  is  told  you  :  you 
were  told,"  Ellen  laughed,  "that  Dolokhof  was  my  para- 
mour," said  she  in  French,  with  her  uncompromising, 
explicit  manner  of  speech,  pronouncing  the  word  ainaiit 
like  any  other  word.  "And  you  believed  it!  And 
what  have  you  proved  by  it }  What  have  you  proved 
by  this  duel  1  That  you  are  a  fool,  a  d7irak,  that  you 
are  un  sot !  And  that 's  what  every  one  calls  you ! 
What  will  be  the  result  of  it.?  This! — that  you  have 
made  me  the  laughing-stock  of  all  Moscow ;  this !  that 
every  one  will  say  that  you,  while  in  a  drunken  fit,  and 
not  knowing  what  you  were  about,  challenged  a  man  of 
whom  you  were  jealous  without  any  reason,"  —  Ellen 
kept  raising  her  voice  and  growing  more  and  more  ex- 
cited, —  "a  man  superior  to  you  in  every  sense  of  the 
word....  " 

"  Hm  ....  hm,"  bellowed  Pierre,  scowling,  but  not  look- 
ing at  her  or  stirring. 

"  And  why  did  you  believe  that  he  was  my  paramour  } 
Why  was  it }  Because  I  liked  his  society  !  If  you  had 
been  brighter  and  more  agreeable,  I  should  have  pre- 
ferred yours." 

"  Do  not  speak  to  me,  I  beg  of  you,"  whispered 
Pierre,  hoarsely. 

"  Why  should  n't  I  speak  to  you  .?  I  have  a  right  tG 
speak,  and  I  tell  you  up  and  down  that  it 's  rare  to  find 
a  woman  with  a  husband  like  you,  who  does  n't  console 
herself  with  lovers,  and  that  is  a  thing  that  1  havei?'t 
done,"  said  she. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  183 

Pierre  started  to  say  something,  looked  at  her  with 
strange  eyes,  the  expression  of  which  she  could  not 
understand,  and  again  threw  himself  back.  At  that 
moment  he  was  suffering  physical  pain ;  his  chest  was 
oppressed,  and  he  could  not  breathe.  He  knew  that  it 
behooved  him  to  do  something  to  put  an  end  to  his  tor- 
ment, but  what  he  wanted  to  do  was  too  horrible. 

"We  had  better  part,"  he  exclaimed  in  a  broken 
voice. 

**  By  all  means,  part,  provided  only  you  give  me 
enough,"  said  Ellen.  "  Part !  That 's  nothing  to  scare 
one !  " 

Pierre  sprang  from  the  sofa,  and  staggered  toward  her. 

**  I  will  kill  you ! "  he  cried,  and  seizing  from  the 
table  a  marble  slab,  with  a  force  such  as  he  had  never 
before  possessed,  rushed  toward  her  brandishing  it  in 
the  air. 

Ellen's  face  was  filled  with  horror;  she  screamed  and 
sprang  away  from  him.  His  father's  nature  suddenly 
became  manifest  in  him.  Pierre  experienced  the  rap- 
ture and  fascination  of  frenzy.  He  flung  down  the 
marble,  breaking  it  in  fragments,  and  with  raised  arms 
flew  at  her,  crying,  **  Away !  "  with  such  a  terrible  voice 
that  it  rang  through  the  whole  house  and  filled  every  one 
with  horror.  God  knows  what  Pierre  would  have  done 
at  that  moment  if  Ellen  had  not  escaped  from  the  room. 

At  the  end  of  a  week,  Pierre  had  given  to  his  wife 
a  power  of  attorney  for  the  control  of  all  his  Great 
Russian  possessions,  which  amounted  to  a  large  half  of 
his  property,  and  returned  alone  to  Petersburg. 


CHAPTER   Vn 

Two  months  had  elapsed  since  news  of  the  battle  of 
Austerlitz  and  the  death  of  Prince  Andrei'  had  been 
received  at  Luisiya  Gorui,  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  letters 
sent  through  the  diplomatic  service,  and  all  inquiries, 
his  body  had  not  been  recovered,  and  his  name  was  not 


1 84  WAR    AND    PEACE 

on  the  lists  of  prisoners.  Worse  than  all  for  his  rela- 
tives was  the  very  hope  that  still  remained  that  he  had 
been  picked  up  on  the  battle-field  by  some  of  the  natives, 
and  might  be  even  now  convalescing  or  dying  somewhere 
alone,  among  strangers,  and  unable  to  send  them  any 
word. 

In  the  newspapers  from  which  the  old  prince  had  first 
learned  of  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  it  was  stated,  as  usual, 
in  the  briefest  and  vaguest  terms,  that  the  Russians,  after 
brilliant  deeds  of  arms,  had  been  compelled  to  retreat, 
and  had  accomplished  this  with  the  greatest  order  pos- 
sible. 

The  old  prince  understood  from  this  official  bulletin 
that  our  troops  had  been  defeated.  A  week  after  the 
receipt  of  the  newspapers  which  informed  him  of  the 
battle  of  Austerlitz,  a  letter  came  from  Kutuzof,  who 
announced  the  fate  that  had  befallen  his  son. 

''Your  son,"  wrote  Kutuzof,  ''before  my  eyes,  fell  at 
the  head  of  his  regiment,  with  the  standard  in  his  hands, 
like  a  hero  worthy  of  his  father  and  his  fatherland.  To 
the  universal  regret  of  all  the  army,  including  myself,  it 
is  as  yet  uncertain  whether  he  is  alive  or  dead.  I  flatter 
myself  with  the  hope  that  your  son  is  still  alive,  for,  in 
the  contrary  case,  he  would  certainly  have  been  men- 
tioned among  the  officers  found  on  the  field  of  battle, 
the  list  of  which  was  brought  me  under  flag  of  truce." 

Receiving  this  news  late  in  the  afternoon  when  he 
was  alone  in  his  cabinet,  the  old  prince  as  usual  went 
the  next  day  to  take  his  morning  promenade,  but  he 
had  nothing  to  say  to  the  overseer,  the  gardener,  or 
the  architect,  and,  though  his  countenance  was  lower- 
ing, there  was  no  outbreak  of  wrath. 

When,  at  the  accustomed  time,  the  Princess  Mariya 
went  to  him,  he  was  standing  at  his  bench  and  driving 
his  lathe,  but  he  did  not  glance  up  at  her  as  usual  when 
she  entered  the  room. 

"  Ah  !  Princess  Mariya,"  suddenly  said  he,  in  an  unnat- 
ural tone,  and  threw  down  his  chisel.  The  wheel  continued 
to  revolve  from  the  impetus.  The  Princess  Mariya  long 
remembered  this  dying  whir  of  the  wheel,  which  was 


WAR   AND    PEACE  i8j 

associated  for  her  with  what  followed.  The  Princess 
Mari'ya  approached  him,  looked  into  his  face,  and  sud- 
denly something  seemed  to  pull  at  her  heartstrings. 
Her  eyes  ceased  to  see  clearly.  By  her  father's  face, 
which  was  not  melancholy  or  downcast,  but  wrathful 
and  working  unnaturally,  she  saw  that  now,  now  some 
terrible  misfortune  was  threatening  to  overwhelm  her, 
a  misfortune  than  which  none  is  worse  in  life,  none 
more  irreparable  and  incomprehensible,  a  misfortune 
such  as  she  had  never  yet  experienced,  —  the  death  of 
one  she  loved. 

'' Mon  phe !  Andre!"  said  the  princess,  and  she 
who  was  ordinarily  so  clumsy  and  awkward  became 
endowed  with  such  inexpressible  charm  of  grief  and 
self-forgetfulness  that  her  father  could  not  endure  her 
glance,  and,  with  a  sob,  turned  away. 

"  I  have  had  news.  He  's  not  among  the  prisoners, 
he  's  not  on  the  list  of  the  dead.  Kutuzof  has  written 
me,"  he  cried  in  a  shrill  voice,  as  if  he  desired  by  this 
cry  to  drive  the  princess  away.     "  He  is  killed !  " 

The  princess  did  not  fall ;  she  did  not  even  feel  faint. 
She  was  pale  to  begin  with,  but  when  she  heard  these 
words  her  face  altered  and  a  light  seemed  to  gleam  in 
her  beautiful,  lustrous  eyes.  Something  like  joy,  a 
supernatural  joy,  independent  of  the  sorrows  and  joys 
of  this  world,  took  the  place  of  this  violent  grief  that 
filled  her  heart.  She  forgot  all  her  fear  of  her  father, 
and  went  up  to  him,  took  him  by  the'  hand,  and  drew 
him  to  her,  and  threw  her  arm  around  his  thin,  sinewy 
neck. 

**  Mon  ph'e  !  "  said  she,  "  do  not  turn  away  from  me  ; 
let  us  weep  together  !  " 

''Villains!  scoundrels  !  "  cried  the  old  man,  averting 
his  face  from  her.  ''  To  destroy  the  army,  to  destroy 
men  !     What  for  .?     Go,  go  and  tell  Liza." 

The  princess  fell  back  feebly  in  the  arm-chair  near 
her  father,  and  burst  into  tears.  She  could  now  see 
her  brother  as  he  looked  at  the  moment  when  he  bade 
her  and  Liza  farewell,  with  his  affectionate  and  at  the 
same  time  rather  haughty  face.     She  could  see  him  as 


i86  WAR   AND    PEACE 

he  tenderly  and  yet  scornfully  hung  the  medallion  round 
his  neck.  Did  he  come  to  believe  ?  Had  he  repented 
of  his  unbelief?  Was  he  yonder  now,  yonder  in  the 
mansions  of  eternal  calm  and  bhss  ? 

These  were  the  questions  that  filled  her  thoughts. 

'' Mon  ph-e,  tell  me  how  it  happened?"  said  she, 
through  her  tears. 

"  Go,  go ;  he  was  killed  in  that  defeat  where  the  best 
men  of  Russia  and  Russian  glory  were  led  out  to  sacri- 
fice. Go,  Princess  Mariya.  Go  and  tell  Liza.  I  will 
follow." 

When  the  Princess  Mariya  left  her  father,  she  found 
the  little  princess  sitting  at  her  work,  with  that  expres- 
sion of  inward  calm  and  happiness  peculiar  to  women 
in  her  condition.  She  looked  up  as  her  sister-in-law 
came  in.  It  was  evident  that  her  eyes  did  not  see  the 
Princess  Mariya,  but  were  rather  profoundly  searching 
into  the  tremendous  and  blessed  mystery  that  was  tak- 
ing place  within  her. 

•'Marie,"  said  she,  turning  from  her  embroidery- 
frame,  and  leaning  back,  "let  me  have  your  hand." 

She  took  the  princess's  hand  and  laid  it  just  below 
her  heart.  Her  eyes  smiled  with  anticipation,  the  short, 
downy  lip  was  raised  in  a  happy,  childlike  smile. 

The  Princess  Mariya  knelt  down  before  her,  and 
buried  her  face  in  the  folds  of  her  sister-in-law's  dress. 
"  There  !  there,  do  you  perceive  it  ?  It  is  so  strange. 
And  do  you  know,  Marie,  I  am  going  to  love  him  very 
dearly,"  said  Liza,  looking  with  shining,  happy  eyes  at 
her  husband's  sister. 

The  Princess  Mariya  could  not  raise  her  head ;  she 
was  weeping. 

''  What  is  the  matter,  Masha?  " 

''Nothing;  only  I  felt  sad,  sad  about  Andrei,"  she 
replied,  wiping  away  her  tears  on  her  sister-in-law's 
knee. 

Several  times  in  the  course  of  the  morning  the  Prin- 
cess Mariya  attempted  to  break  the  news  to  her  sister- 
in-law,  and  each  time  she  had  to  weep.  These  tears, 
the  cause  for  which  the  little  princess  could  not  under- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  187 

stand,  alarmed  her,  unobservant  as  her  nature  was. 
She  made  no  remark,  but  she  looked  around  in  some 
alarm,  as  if  searching  for  some  one.  Before  dinner  the 
old  prince  came  into  her  room  and  went  right  out  agam 
without  saying  a  word ;  she  was  always  afraid  of  him, 
but  now  his  face  was  so  disturbed  and  stern  that  she 
gazed  at  the  Princess  Mariya,  then  fell  into  a  brown 
study,  with  her  eyes,  as  it  were,  turned  inward  with  that 
expression  so  characteristic  of  women  in  her  condition, 
and  suddenly  burst  into  tears. 

'*  Have    you    heard    anything    from    Andrei  i       she 

asked. 

"  No,  you  know  that  it  is  n't  time  yet  to  get  news,  but 
mon  pere  is  anxious,  and  it  frightens  me." 

"  Then  there  's  nothing  .?  "  ^ 

"  Nothing,"  replied  the  Princess  Mariya,  letting  her 
lustrous  eyes  rest  unflinchingly  on  her  sister-in-law. 

She  had  made  up  her  mind  not  to  tell  her,  and  had 
persuaded  her  father  to  conceal  the  terrible  tidings 
from  her  until  her  confinement,  which  would  be  now 
before  many  days.  The  Princess  Mariya  and  the  old 
prince,  each  according  to  their  own  nature,  bore  and  hid 
their  grief.  The  old  prince  was  not  willing  to  indulge 
in  hopes ;  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  Prince  AndreY 
was  killed,  and,  although  he  sent  a  chinovnik  to  Austria 
to  make  diligent  search  for  traces  of  his  son,  he  com- 
manded him  to  order  in  Moscow  a  gravestone  to  be 
erected  in  his  garden,  and  he  told  every  one  that  his 
son  was  dead.  He  himself  aged  rapidly;  he  unchange- 
ably carried  out  the  rigorous  routine  of  his  life,  but  his 
strength  failed  him  ;  he  took  shorter  walks,  ate  less, 
slept  less,  and  each  day  grew  weaker. 

The  Princess  Mariya  still  hoped.  She  prayed  for 
her  brother,  as  if  he  were  alive,  and  all  the  time  was  on 
the  lookout  for  news  of  his  return. 


1 88  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   VIII 

'*  Ma  bonne  amie,''  said  the  little  princess,  after  break 
fast  on  the  morning  of  the  thirty-first  of  March,  and  her 
downy  upper  lip  was  lifted  out  of  mere  habit,  for  a  cer- 
tain sense  of  melancholy  had  affected  not  only  the  talk, 
but  the  footsteps,  of  all  in  this  house  ever  since  the 
receipt  of  the  terrible  news,  so  that  even  the  little 
princess  had  come  under  the  influence  of  it,  and  she 
smiled  in  such  a  way  that  it  reminded  one  even  more  of 
the  general  depression. 

**  My  dear  girl,  I  am  afraid  my  friihs tuck  this  morn- 
ing, as  Foka,  the  cook,  calls  it,  did  n't  agree  with  me." 

"  What 's  the  matter,  sweetheart  ?  You  are  pale. 
Akh  !  you  are  very,  very  pale,"  said  the  Princess  Mariya, 
alarmed,  and  going  toward  her  sister-in-law  with  her 
heavy  but  gentle  steps. 

"  Your  illustriousness,  shan't  we  call  Marya  Bogda- 
novna.?  "  inquired  one  of  the  maids,  who  happened  to  be 
present.  (Marya  Bogdanovna  was  the  midwife  from  the 
district  capital,  who  had  now  been  living  at  Luisiya 
Gorui  for  a  fortnight.) 

**  It  certainly  may  be  necessary,"  replied  the  Princess 
Mariya.  '*  I  will  go.  Courage,  7}ion  ange  !  "  She  kissed 
Liza  and  started  to  leave  the  room. 

"Ah,  no,  no!" 

And  over  and  above  the  pallor  arising  from  physical 
suffering,  the  little  princess's  face  showed  a  childish 
fear  of  unendurable  agony. 

*'  No,  it  is  indigestion,  tell  me  it  is  indigestion,  Marie," 
and  the  princess  wept,  childishly,  capriciously,  and  per- 
haps rather  hypocritically,  wringing  her  hands.  The 
young  princess  went  from  the  room  in  search  of  Marya 
Bogdanovna. 

''  Mon  Dieu  !  Mon  Dieu  !  " 

"  Oh  !  "  was  heard  behind  her. 

Rubbing  her  plump,  small,  white  hands,  the  midwife 
came  to  meet  her,  with  a  significant  but  perfectly  com- 
posed expression  of  countenance. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  189 

"  Marya  Bogdanovna!  I  think  it  is  beginning,"  said  the 
Princess  Mariya,  looking  at  the  midwife,  with  terrified, 
wide-open  eyes. 

''Well,  then,  glory  to  God  for  that,  princess,"  said 
Marya  Bogdanovna,  not  quickening  her  steps.  "You 
young  ladies  have  no  need  to  know  anything  about  it." 

*'  But  what  shall  we  do  if  the  doctor  from  Moscow  has 
not  come  yet  ?  "  asked  the  princess. 

By  Liza  and  Prince  Andrei's  desire  they  had  sent  to 
Moscow  for  an  obstetrician,  and  he  was  expected  at  any 
moment. 

'*  No  matter,  princess,  don't  be  alarmed,"  said  Marya 
Bogdanovna;  "it  will  come  out  all  right  even  without  a 
doctor." 

In  the  course  of  five  minutes  the  young  princess 
heard,  as  she  sat  in  her  room,  the  sound  of  men  carrying 
something  heavy.  She  looked  out  and  saw  the  servants, 
for  some  reason  or  other,  carrying  into  the  sleeping- 
room  the  leather  divan  which  had  always  stood  in 
Prince  Andrei's  study.  There  was  an  expression  of 
gentleness  and  solemnity  on  the  faces  of  the  men  who 
were  lugging  this. 

The  Princess  Mariya  sat  alone  in  her  room,  listening 
to  the  various  sounds  in  the  house,  and  occasionally 
opening  the  door  when  any  one  passed,  and  trying  to 
make  out  what  was  going  on  in  the  corridor.  A  number 
of  women  with  Hght  steps  were  moving  hither  and 
thither,  and  they  gave  a  glance  at  the  young  princess 
and  turned  away.  She  did  not  venture  to  ask  any 
questions,  but  shut  her  door,  went  back  to  her  own 
bedroom,  sat  down  for  a  little  in  her  arm-chair,  then 
hastened  to  her  oratory,  and  bent  on  her  knees  before 
the  kiot,  or  shrine  of  images.  To  her  dismay  and  sur- 
prise, she  found  that  prayer  did  not  aid  her  in  calming 
her  agitation. 

Suddenly  the  door  of  her  room  was  softly  opened, 
and  on  the  threshhold  appeared  her  old  nurse  Praskovya 
Savishna,  with  a  kerchief  tied  over  her  head ;  she 
almost  never  came  to  the  princess's  room,  as  her  father 
had  expressly  forbidden  it. 


I90  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  God  be  with  you,  Mashenka,  I  have  come  to  sit  a 
little  while,"  said  the  nurse  ;  "  and  here,  my  angel,  are 
the  prince's  wedding  tapers  I  've  brought  to  light  before 
the  saint,"  she  added,  with  a  sigh. 

"  Akh  !  how  glad  I  am,  nurse." 

"  God  is  merciful,  my  dove."  ^ 

The  old  nurse  lit  the  tapers  in  the  golden  candle- 
sticks before  the  shrine,  and  then  sat  down  by  the  door 
with  her  knitting.  The  Princess  Mariya  took  a  book 
and  began  to  read.  Only  when  steps  or  voices  were 
heard  the  princess  would  glance  up  with  frightened, 
anxious  face,  and  the  nurse  would  look  at  her  with  a 
soothing  expression. 

In  all  parts  of  the  house  every  one  was  dominated 
by  the  same  feelings  which  the  Princess  Mariya  expe- 
rienced as  she  sat  in  her  room.  In  accordance  with  the 
old  superstition  that  the  fewer  people  know  of  the  suf- 
ferings of  a  woman  in  labor,  the  less  she  suffers,  all 
pretended  to  be  ignorant  of  what  was  going  on  ;  no 
one  spoke  about  it,  but  every  one,  over  and  above  the 
habitual  gravity  and  respectful  propriety  that  obtained 
in  the  prince's  household,  evidently  shared  the  general 
anxiety,  tender-heartedness,  and  consciousness  that 
something  great,  incomprehensible,  and  solemn  was 
taking  place  at  that  moment. 

There  was  no  sound  of  laughing  heard  in  the  great 
room  devoted  to  the  maidservants.  In  the  offitsialnaya 
all  the  men  sat  silent,  as  if  awaiting  something.  The 
servants  kept  pine  knots  and  candles  burning,  and  did 
not  think  of  going  to  sleep.  The  old  prince,  walking 
on  his  heels,  strode  up  and  down  his  cabinet,  and  at 
last  ordered  Tikhon  to  go  to  Marya  Bogdanovna :  — 
"  Merely  say,  *  The  prince  has  sent  to  ask,'  and  come 
and  tell  me  what  she  says." 

"  Inform  the  prince  that  labor  has  begun,"  said  Marya 
Bogdanovna,  giving  the  messenger  a  significant  look. 
Tikhon  went  and  reported  to  the  prince. 

"Very  good,"  exclaimed  the  prince,  closing  the  door 
behind  him,  and  Tikhon  heard  not  the  shghtest  sound 

^Galubka. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  191 

in  the  cabinet.  After  waiting  some  time  Tikhon  went 
into  the  cabinet,  pretending  that  it  was  to  snuff  the 
candles,  and,  seeing  the  prince  lying  on  the  sofa,  he 
looked  at  his  agitated  face,  shook  his  head,  then  silently 
stepping  up  to  him  and  kissing  him  on  the  shoulder, 
he  left  the  room  forgetting  to  snuff  the  candles  and  not 
saying  why  he  had  gone  in. 

The  most  solemn  mystery  in  the  world  was  in  pro- 
cess of  consummation.  The  evening  passed  ;  the  night 
wore  away,  and  the  sense  of  expectancy  and  solemnified 
thought  at  the  presence  of  the  ineffable  grew  intenser 
rather  than  grew  weaker.     No  one  slept. 

It  was  one  of  those  March  nights  when  winter  seems 
determined  to  resume  his  sway,  and  scatters  with  rage 
and  despair  his  last  snows  and  gusts  of  wind.  A  relay 
of  horses  had  been  sent  along  the  highway  to  meet  the 
German  doctor  from  Moscow,  who  was  every  moment 
expected,  and  horsemen  with  lanterns  were  sent  out  to 
the  junction  of  the  cross-road,  to  guide  him  safely  by 
the  pitfalls  and  watery  hollows. 

The  Princess  Mariya  had  long  since  laid  down  her 
book ;  she  was  sitting  in  perfect  silence,  with  her  lus- 
trous eyes  fastened  on  her  old  nurse's  wrinkled  face, 
every  line  of  which  she  knew  so  well;  on  the  little  tuft 
of  gray  hair  that  had  escaped  from  under  her  kerchief, 
and  on  the  loose  flesh  hanging  under  her  chin. 

Nyanya  Savishna,  with  her  unfinished  stocking  in 
her  hand,  was  telling  in  a  low  voice,  without  heeding 
her  own  words,  the  story  that  she  had  told  a  hundred 
times  about  the  late  princess,  and  how  she  had  been  de- 
livered of  the  Princess  Mariya  in  Kishenef,  with  an  old 
Moldavian  peasant  woman  for  a  midwife. 

"  God  is  merciful ;  dokhtors  are  never  needed,"  she 
was  saying. 

Suddenly  a  gust  of  wind  beat  violently  against  the 
window-frame  (it  was  always  a  whim  of  the  princess  to 
have  the  double  windows  taken  off  from  at  least  one  of 
the  windows  in  each  room,  as  soon  as  the  larks  made 
their  appearance)  and  burst  the  carelessly  pushed  bolt, 


1^2 


WAR   AND    PEACE  | 


while  a  draught  of  cold  air  laden  with  snow  shook  the 
silken  curtains  and  puffed  out  the  light. 

The  princess  shuddered.  The  old  nyanya,  laying 
down  her  stocking,  went  to  the  window,  and,  leaning 
out,  tried  lo  shut  it  to  again.  The  cold  wind  fluttered 
the  ends  of  her  kerchief  and  the  gray  locks  of  her  di- 
sheveled hair. 

"  Princess  !  matushka  !  some  one  's  coming  up  the 
preshpekt,"  cried  she,  getting  hold  of  the  window,  but 
not  closing  it,  "  with  lanterns  !    It  must  be  the  dokhtor  !  " 

*'  Akh !  glory  to  God,  Slava  BoJiii,''  exclaimed  the 
Princess  Mariya.  "  I  must  go  and  meet  him  ;  he  won't 
be  able  to  speak  Russian." 

The  Princess  Mariya  wrapped  her  shawl  around  her 
and  hastened  down  to  meet  the  new-comer.  When  she 
reached  the  anteroom  she  looked  through  the  window 
and  saw  a  team  and  lanterns  standing  at  the  front  door- 
steps. She  went  out  on  the  landing.  On  the  foot  of 
the  balustrade  flamed  a  tallow  candle,  guttering  in  the 
wind.  The  groom  Filipp,  with  terrified  face,  and  with 
another  candle  in  his  hand,  stood  lower  down  on  the 
first  landing  of  the  staircase.  Still  lower  down  at  the 
turning  of  the  staircase  were  heard  advancing  footsteps 
in  thick  boots.  And  a  voice  which  struck  the  Princess 
Mariya  as  strangely  familiar  was  saying  something. 

**  Thank  God,  —  Slava  BoJiu  !  "  said  the  voice  *'  and 
my  father.'' " 

*'  He  has  gone  to  bed,"  replied  the  voice  of  Demyan, 
the  steward,  who  had  by  this  time  come  down. 

Then  the  well-known  voice  asked  something,  and 
Demyan  answered,  and  the  steps  in  the  thick  boots 
came  swifter  up  the  stairs  and  nearer  to  the  princess, 
out  of  sight  around  the  turn. 

"  It  is  Andrei !  "  said  the  princess  to  herself.  "  No, 
it  cannot  be !  It  would  be  too  extraordinary,"  she 
thought,  and  at  the  very  moment  that  this  thought  oc- 
curred to  her,  on  the  landing  where  stood  the  servant 
with  the  candle,  appeared  Prince  Andrei's  form,  envel- 
oped in  a  fur  shuba,  the  collar  all  powdered  with  snow. 

Yes,  it  was  he  ;  but  pale  and  thin,  and  with  an  altered 


WAR   AND    PEACE  193 

and  strangely  gentle  but  anxious  expression.  He  ran 
up  the  stairs  and  clasped  his  sister  in  his  arms. 

''You  didn't  receive  my  letter?"  he  asked,  and  not 
waiting  for  her  reply,  which,  indeed,  he  would  not  have 
received,  for  the  princess  was  too  much  moved  to  speak, 
he  turned  back,  and  joined  by  the  obstetrician,  who  had 
come  with  him  (he  had  overtaken  him  at  the  last  post 
station),  with  hasty  steps  flew  up  the  stairs  again,  and 
again  embraced  his  sister. 

''What  luck!"  he  cried,  "dear  Masha  !  "  and  fling- 
ing off  his  shuba  and  boots,  he  went  to  his  wife's  room. 


CHAPTER   IX 

The  little  princess,  in  a  white  cap,  was  lying  on  the 
pillows.  (For  the  moment  she  was  a  little  easier.)  Her 
dark  locks  fell  in  disorder  over  her  flushed  cheeks,  wet 
with  perspiration ;  her  rosy,  fascinating  mouth,  Vv^ith  its 
downy  upper  lip,  was  open,  and  she  wore  a  smile  of  joy. 

Prince  Andrei  went  into  the  room  and  paused  in  front 
of  her,  at  the  foot  of  the  sofa  on  which  she  lay.  Her 
brilliant  eyes,  looking  at  him  with  childish  trepidation 
and  anxiety,  rested  on  him  without  change  of  expression. 

'  I  love  you  all ;  I  have  n't  done  any  one  any  harm ; 
why  must  I  suffer  so.?  Help  me!'  her  expression 
seemed  to  say. 

She  saw  her  husband,  but  seemed  to  have  no  compre- 
hension  of  the  significance  of  his  appearing  just  at  this 
time  before  her. 

Prince  Andrei  went  round  to  the  side  of  the  sofa,  and 
kissed  her  on  the  forehead. 

"My  darling  heart — dushenka  moyd,''  he  said.  He 
had  never  called  her  by  this  endearing  term  before. 
"  God  is  merciful...." 

She  looked  at  him  with  a  questioning,  childishly  of> 
fended  expression. 

'  I  expected  help  from  thee,  and  none  comes,  none 
comes!'  her  eyes  seemed  to  say.  She  was  not  sur- 
prised at  his  coming ;  she  did  not  even  realize  that  he 
VOL.  II. — 13 


194  WAR   AND    PEACE 

had  come.  His  appearance  had  nothing  to  do  with  her 
agony  and  the  assuagement  of  it. 

The  pains  began  again,  and  Marya  Bogdanovna  ad- 
vised Prince  Andrei  to  leave  the  room.  The  obstetri- 
cian entered  the  room.  Prince  Andrei  went  out,  and 
meeting  his  sister  he  again  joined  her.  They  began  to 
talk  in  a  whisper,  but  the  conversation  was  constantly 
interrupted  by  silences. 

They  kept  waiting  and  listening. 

''  Allez,  mon  ami,''  said  the  Princess  Mariya.  Prince 
Andrei  again  went  to  his  wife,  and  then  sat  down  in  the 
adjoining  room  waiting.  Some  woman  or  other  came 
out  of  her  room  with  a  terrified  face  and  was  confused 
when  she  saw  Prince  Andrei. 

He  covered  his  face  with  his  hands  and  sat  thus  for 
some  minutes.  Pitiful,  heartbreaking  groans  were  heard 
in  the  other  room.  Prince  Andrei"  stood  up  and  went  to 
the  door,  and  was  about  to  open  it.  Some  one  held 
it  to. 

**  You  can't  come  in!  it's  impossible,"  said  a  terrified 
voice  on  the  other  side.  He  began,  to  pace  up  and  down 
the  room.  The  cries  had  ceased ;  a  few  seconds  more 
passed,  when  suddenly  a  terrible  cry  —  it  could  not  be 
his  wife's,  she  could  not  cry  like  that  —  rang  through 
the  next  room.  Prince  Andrei  hastened  to  the  door; 
this  cry  ceased ;  a  baby's  wailing  was  heard. 

"What  have  they  brought  a  baby  in  there  for.?  "  was 
Prince  Andrei's  query  at  first.  *'A  baby.''  What 
baby .?....  Why  a  baby  there .?....  Or  can  my  baby  have 
been  born } " 

Then  he  suddenly  realized  all  the  joyful  significance 
of  this  cry ;  the  tears  choked  him,  and,  leaning  both  his 
elbows  on  the  window-seat,  he  wept  and  sobbed  as  chil- 
dren weep. 

The  door  opened.  The  doctor,  with  his  shirt-sleeves 
rolled  up,  without  his  coat,  pale,  and  with  trembling  jaw, 
came  from  the  room.  Prince  Andrei  went  to  him,  but 
the  doctor  looked  at  him  with  a  strange  expression  of 
confusion,  and,  without  saying  a  word,  passed  by  him. 
A  woman  came  running  out,  but  when  she  saw  Prince 


WAR   AND    PEACE  195 

Andref,  stopped  short  on  the  threshold.  He  went  into 
his  wife's  room. 

She  was  dead,  lying  in  the  same  position  in  which  he 
had  seen  her  five  minutes  before,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  fixity  of  her  eyes,  and  the  pallor  of  her  cheeks,  that 
charming,  little,  childish  face,  with  the  lip  shaded  with 
dark  hairs,  wore  the  same  expression  as  before. 

**  I  love  you  all,  and  I  have  done  no  one  any  harm, 
and  what  have  you  done  to  me } "  said  her  lovely  face, 
pitifully  pale  in  death.  In  the  corner  of  the  room  a 
small,  red  object  was  yelping  and  wailing  in  the  trem- 
bling, white  hands  of  Marya  Bogdanovna. 

Two  hours  later.  Prince  Andrei,  with  noiseless  steps, 
went  to  his  father's  cabinet.  The  old  prince  had  already 
been  informed  of  everything.  He  was  standing  by  the 
very  door,  and,  as  soon  as  it  was  thrown  open,  the  old 
man,  without  speaking,  flung  his  rough,  aged  hands 
around  his  son's  neck,  and  held  him  as  in  a  vise  and 
sobbed  like  a  child. 

Three  days  later,  the  little  princess  was  buried,  and 
Prince  Andrei  went  up  the  steps  to  the  coffin  to  take 
his  last  farewell.  And  there  also  in  the  coffin  lay  the 
same  face,  though  with  closed  eyes. 

'  Akh  !  what  have  you  done  to  me  ? '  it  all  seemed  to 
say.  Prince  Andrei  felt  that  his  heartstrings  were  torn 
within  him,  that  he  had  done  a  wrong  that  could  never 
be  repaired  or  forgotten.     He  could  not  weep. 

The  old  prince  also  came  and  kissed  her  waxen  hand, 
placidly  folded  on  her  breast,  and  to  him  her  face  seemed 
to  say :  — 

'  Akh  !  and  why  have  you  done  this  to  me  .'' ' 

And  the  old  man,  after  looking  into  her  face,  abruptly 
turned  away. 

Then,  again,  five  days  later,  they  christened  the  baby 
prince  Nikolai  Andreyitch.  The  wet-nurse  held  up  the 
swaddling-clothes  against  her  chin,  while  the  priest,  with 
a  goose-quill,  anointed  with  holy  oil  the  infant's  wrinkled 


196  WAR   AND    PEACE 

little  pink  palms  and  soles.  His  grandfather,  who  acted 
as  sponsor,  with  tottering  steps,  and  afraid  of  dropping 
him,  carried  the  little  prince  around  the  tin-lined  font, 
and  handed  him  over  to  his  godmother,  the  Princess 
Mariya. 

Prince  Andrei,  in  deadly  apprehension  lest  they  should 
drop  the  child,  sat  in  the  next  room,  waiting  for  the  con- 
clusion of  the  sacrament.  He  looked  joyfully  at  his  baby 
when  the  nurse  brought  him  to  him,  and  nodded  his  head 
with  great  satisfaction  when  the  nurse  confided  to  him 
that  the  lump  of  wax  with  some  of  the  infant's  hairs  on 
it,  when  thrown  into  the  font,  did  not  sink,  but  floated.^ 


CHAPTER   X 

Tke  part  played  by  Rostof  in  the  duel  between  Dolo- 
khof  and  Bezukhoi*  was  ignored  through  the  old  count's 
efforts,  and  the  young  man,  instead  of  being  cashiered 
as  he  anticipated,  was  appointed  aide  to  the  governor- 
general  of  Moscow.  In  consequence  of  this,  he  was 
unable  to  go  to  the  country  with  the  rest  of  the  family, 
but  was  kept  in  Moscow  all  summer,  engaged  in  his  new 
duties. 

Dolokhof  recovered,  and  he  and  Rostof  became  great 
friends  during  the  time  of  his  convalescence.  He  had 
been  carried  to  the  residence  of  his  mother,  who  loved 
him  passionately  and  devotedly.  The  old  lady,  Marya 
Ivanovna,  becoming  attached  to  Rostof  on  account  of 
his  friendship  for  her  Fedya,  often  talked  with  him 
about  her  son. 

''Yes,  count,  he  is  too  noble  and  high-souled  for  this 
corrupt  world  of  ours.  No  one  loves  goodness;  it  serves 
as  a  reproach  to  every  one.  Now  tell  me,  count,  tell  me 
honestly,  was  it  fair  and  honorable  on  Bezukhoi's  part } 
And  Fedya,  with  all  his  noble  nature,  always  liked  him, 

1  It  is  part  of  the  Russian  baptismal  service  for  the  priest  to  cut  the 
infant's  hair.  The  superstition  considers  it  unlucky  for  the  hit  of  wax  with 
a  few  of  these  hairs  attached  to  sink  if  placed  in  the  waters  of  the  baptis- 
mal  font,  and  lucky  for  it  to  float. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  197 

and  now  never  says  hard  things  about  him  at  all.  And 
in  Petersburg,  they  played  all  those  tricks  on  the  police- 
man ;  they  did  it  together,  did  n't  they  ?  Well,  Bezu- 
khoi"  went  scot  free,  and  my  Fedya  had  to  bear  the  whole 
brunt  of  it  on  his  shoulders  !  Yes,  he  had  to  bear  it  all ! 
To  be  sure,  he  has  been  restored  to  his  rank,  but  why 
should  n't  he  have  been  ?  I  don't  believe  the  fatherland 
has  many  braver  sons  than  he  is  ! ....  And  now  this  duel ! 
Have  such  men  any  feeling,  any  honor  ?  Knowing  that 
he  was  an  only  son,  to  challenge  him  to  fight  a  duel,  and 
then  to  fire  right  at  him  !  Fortunately,  God  helped  us. 
And  what  was  it  all  about  ?  Who  is  there  in  our  day 
who  does  n't  engage  in  intrigues  }  Why  should  he  have 
been  so  jealous }  I  should  think  he  might  have  given 
some  signs  of  it  before,  and  here  a  year  has  gone  by ! 
And  so  he  challenged  him,  supposing  that  Fedya  would 
not  accept  because  he  owed  him  some  money.  How 
nasty  of  him  !  I  know  you  appreciate  Fedya,  my  dear 
count,  and  so  I  love  you  with  my  whole  heart,  believe 
me.  There  are  n't  many  who  understand  him.  He  has 
such  a  lofty,  heavenly  nature." 

Dolokhof  himself,  during  his  convalescence,  often  said 
things  to  Rostof  that  no  one  would  ever  have  expected 
from  him. 

''  I  am  supposed  to  be  a  bad  man,  I  know,"  said  he, 
**  and  let  them  think  so.  I  don't  care  anything  about 
the  opinions  of  men,  unless  I  am  fond  of  them  ;  but  if  I 
am  fond  of  people,  I  am  so  fond  of  them  that  I  would 
give  my  life  for  them,  and  as  for  the  rest,  if  they  stood 
in  my  way,  I  would  push  them  to  the  wall.  My  mother 
is  a  dear,  precious  woman,  and  I  have  two  or  three 
others  —  you  among  the  number  —  and  as  for  the  rest, 
I  only  heed  them  as  so  many  who  may  be  able  to  be 
useful  or  injurious  to  me.  And  almost  ail  are  injurious, 
especially  the  women.  Yes,  my  dear,  —  dusha  moyd'' 
—  he  went  on  to  say,  ''  among  men  I  meet  many  who 
are  lovable,  noble,  elevated,  but  among  women  I  have 
yet  to  meet  one  who  is  not  to  be  bought  —  all  are  alike, 
countess  and  cook!  I  have  yet  to  find  that  celestial 
purity,  devotion,  which  I  look  for  in  woman.     If  I  were 


198  WAR    AND    PEACE 

ever  to  find  such  a  woman,  I  would  give  my  life  for  her. 
But  these  !  "  ....  he  made  a  depreciatory  gesture.  *'  And 
you  may  not  believe  me,  but  if  I  prize  my  life  still,  it  is 
simply  because  I  hope  some  day  to  find  one  of  these 
heavenly  creatures  who  would  regenerate  me,  purify 
me,  and  elevate  me.  But  you  do  not  understand  this." 
"  Indeed,  I  understand  perfectly,"  replied  Rostof,  who 
was  coming  more  and  more  under  the  influence  of  his 
new  friend. 

In  the  autumn  the  Rostof  family  returned  to  Moscow. 
Early  in  the  winter  Denisof  also  came  back  and  stayed 
with  the  Rostofs.  The  first  months  of  this  winter  of 
1806,  which  Nikolai  Rostof  spent  in  Moscow,  could  not 
have  been  happier  or  gayer  for  him  and  for  all  his 
family.  Nikolai"  brought  home  with  him  to  his  parents' 
home  many  young  men.  Viera  was  a  pretty  young  lady 
of  twenty  summers.  Sony  a  was  just  sixteen,  and  had 
all  the  charm  of  an  opening  flower.  Natasha,  half  child 
and  half  maiden,  was  now  at  one  moment  full  of  inno- 
cent merriment,  at  the  next  showing  all  the  fascination 
of  a  maiden. 

The  house  of  the  Rostofs  at  this  time  seemed  to  be 
full  of  the  peculiar  atmosphere  of  loveliness  character- 
istic of  homes  where  there  are  very  pretty  and  very 
young  ladies.  Every  young  man  who  came  there  and 
saw  these  bright,  impressionable,  girlish  faces,  smiling 
apparently  from  very  happiness,  and  the  merry  running 
to  and  fro,  and  heard  that  continual  chattering  of 
maiden's  voices,  inconsequential,  illogical,  kindly  to 
every  one,  ready  for  anything,  and  full  of  hope,  and 
listened  to  these  inconsequential  sounds,  now  of  sing- 
ing, now  of  instrumental  music,  must  have  experienced 
one  and  the  same  feeling  of  predisposition  for  love  and 
coming  happiness,  which  the  young  people  of  the 
Rostof  household  themselves  experienced. 

Among  the  young  men  and  one  of  the  first  whom 
Rostof  introduced  at  home  was  Dolokhof,  and  every 
one,  with  the  exception  of  Natasha,  was  pleased  with 
him.     She  almost  quarreled  with  her  brother  concern- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  199 

ing  him.  She  insisted  that  he  was  a  bad  man,  that 
Pierre  was  in  the  right  in  his  duel  with  Dolokhof,  and 
the  other  in  the  wrong ;  and  that  he  was  disagreeable 
and  insincere. 

''There 's  nothing  forme  to  understand,"  cried  Natasha, 
with  stubborn  self-will;  "he  is  bad,  and  lacks  feeling. 
Now,  here,  I  like  your  Denisof;  he  may  be  a  spend- 
thrift, and  all  that,  but  still  I  like  him,  and  I  certainly 
understand  him.  I  don't  know  how  to  express  it  to  you, 
but  everything  that  /le  does  has  some  ulterior  object,  and 
I  don't  like  him  ;  but  Denisof  ....  " 

"There  now,  Denisof  is  quite  another  matter,"  replied 
Nikolai",  giving  her  to  understand  that,  in  comparison 
with  Dolokhof,  Denisof  was  of  no  consequence.  "  You 
ought  to  know  what  a  tender  heart  this  Dolokhof  has, 
you  ought  to  see  him  with  his  mother !  what  a  warm- 
hearted fellow  he  is  !  " 

"Well,  I  don't  know  anything  about  that,  but  I  'm  ill 
at  ease  with  him.  And  do  you  know,  he  's  in  love  with 
Sony a  ? " 

"  What  nonsense  !  "  .... 

"I  'm  certain  of  it,  you  can  see  for  yourself." 

Natasha's  prognostication  was  justified.  Dolokhof, 
though  he  did  not  like  the  society  of  ladies,  had  begun 
to  be  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  Rostofs',  and  the  problem 
what  brought  him  there  was  quickly  solved,  though  no 
one  ventured  to  remark  upon  it.  He  came  on  account 
of  Sonya.  And  Sonya,  though  she  would  never  have 
dared  to  acknowledge  such  a  thing,  knew  it  very  well, 
and  every  time  that  Dolokhof  was  announced  blushed 
as  red  as  kumatch. 

Dolokhof  often  came  to  dinner  at  the  Rostofs' ;  he 
never  missed  an  entertainment  where  they  were  to  be 
found,  and  frequented  the  adolesceittes  balls  given  by 
logel,  which  the  Rostofs  always  attended.  He  paid 
preeminent  attention  to  Sonya,  and  looked  at  her  with 
such  eyes,  that  not  only  the  girl  herself  could  not  en- 
dure his  glances  without  blushing,  but  even  the  old 
countess  and  Natasha  flushed  if  they  caught  sight  of 
him  looking  at  her. 


200  WAR    AND    PEACE 

It  was  plain  to  see  that  this  powerful,  strange  man 
was  coming  under  the  irresistible  influence  of  this 
gracious,  dark-eyed  maiden,  who,  all  the  time,  was  in 
love  with  some  one  else. 

Rostof  perceived  that  there  was  something  new  be- 
tween Dolokhof  and  Sonya,  but  he  could  not  make  out 
what  this  relationship  was. 

''Everybody  here  is  in  love  with  some  one,"  he  said 
to  himself,  referring  to  Sonya  and  Natasha.  But  he 
was  no  longer  at  his  ease  in  the  company  of  Sonya  and 
Dolokhof,  as  before,  and  he  began  to  be  absent  from 
home  more  frequently. 

In  the  autumn  of  1806  there  had  been  continual  talk 
about  war  with  Napoleon,  and  with  even  greater  heat 
than  the  year  before.  A  conscription  of  ten  men  in  a 
thousand,  and  of  nine  militiamen  to  a  thousand,  in  addi- 
tion, was  ordered.  Everywhere  anathemas  were  heaped 
upon  Bonapartism,  and  nothing  was  talked  about  in 
Moscow  except  the  coming  war. 

For  the  Rostof  family,  all  interest  in  these  prepara- 
tions for  war  were  centered  on  the  fact  that  Nikolushka 
would  not  hear  of  such  a  thing  as  remaining  at  home,  and 
was  only  waiting  for  the  end  of  Denisof's  furlough  in 
order  to  return  with  him  to  his  regiment  after  the  holi- 
days. The  approaching  departure  did  not  in  any  way 
prevent  him  from  having  a  good  time;  it  rather  only 
seemed  still  more  to  spur  them  all  on  to  enjoyment. 
The  larger  part  of  his  time  he  spent  away  from  the 
house,  at  dinners,  receptions,  and  balls. 


CHAPTER   XI 

^  On  the  third  day  of  the  Christmas  holidays,  Nikolai 
dined  at  home  —  a  thing  which  he  had  rarely  done  of 
late.  It  was  a  sort  of  farewell  dinner,  as  he  and  Deni- 
sof  were  going  to  start  for  their  regiments  after  Epiph- 
any. There  were  about  twenty  who  sat  down  at  table, 
among  the  number  Dolokhof  and  Denisof. 

Never   at  the  Rostofs'  had  that  delicic'is  breath  of 


WAR    AND    PEACE  201 

passion  and  that  atmosphere  of  love  made  itself  felt  with 
such  force  as  during  these  days  of  the  Christmas-tide. 

''  Seize  these  moments  of  happiness  ;  let  yourself  drift 
into  love;  become  enamoured  yourself.  This  is  the 
only  genuine  Miss  in  the  world;  everything  else  is 
dross.  And  with  this  alone  all  of  us  here  are  exclusively 
occupied,"  said  this  atmosphere. 

Nikolai,  as  always,  tired  out  two  spans  of  horses,  and 
yet  had  not  had  time  enough  to  go  to  all  the  places 
where  he  was  needed  and  summoned ;  he  came  home 
just  before  dinner-time.  As  soon  as  he  came  in,  he 
noticed  and  felt  this  atmosphere  so  charged  with  the 
electrical  tension  of  love,  but  more  especially  he  re- 
marked a  strange  embarrassment  existing  among  sev- 
eral of  those  who  were  gathered  in  the  drawing-room. 
Peculiarly  agitated  were  Sonya,  Dolokhof,  and  the  old 
countess,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  his  sister  Natasha. 
Nikolai-  perceived  that  something  must  have  happened 
between  Sonya  and  Dolokhof,  and,  in  accordance  with 
his  impulsive  nature,  and  the  genuine  tact  characteristic 
of  him,  he  showed  himself  very  affectionate  and  con- 
siderate toward  these  two. 

That  evening  of  the  third  day  of  the  Christmas-tide, 
there  was  to  be  one  of  the  balls  which  logel,  the  danc- 
ing-master, used  to  give  during  the  holidays  to  all  the 
young  men  and  women  who  were  his  pupils. 

"  Nikolenka,  you  will  go  to  logel's,  won't  you  ? 
Please  do  !  "  said  Natasha  to  him.  "  He  invited  you 
especially,  and  VasiU  Dmitritch  is  going."  (By  Vasili 
Dmitritch,  she  meant  Denisof.) 

*' Where  wouldn't  I  go  at  the  countess's  wequest !  " 
exclaimed  Denisof,  who,  in  a  joking  way,  occupied  in 
the  Rostof  household  the  position  of  knight  to  Natasha. 
"  I  am  weady  to  dance  even  the  pas  de  chdle  !  " 

"I  will  if  I  have  time.  I  promised  to  go  to  the 
Arkharofs',  who  have  a  party  this  evening,"  said 
Nikolai'. 

**And  you.?"  he  asked,  "turning  to  Dolokhof.  But 
the  moment  the  words  had  left  his  lips,  he  perceived 
that  he  had  committed  a  blunder. 


202  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"Yes,  perhaps  so,"  replied  Dolokhof,  coolly  and  lacon- 
ically, glancing  at  Sonya,  frowning,  and  giving  Nikolai 
exactly  the  "same  sort  of  a  look  that  he  had  given  Pierre, 
the  night  of  the  dinner  to  Bagration  at  the  club. 

"There  must  be  something  up,"  said  Nikolaif  to  him- 
self, and  he  was  still  further  confirmed  in  this  impres- 
sion by  the  fact  that  Dolokhof  took  his  departure 
immediately  after  dinner.  He  called  Natasha  to  him, 
and  asked  what  the  matter  was. 

"  And  I  was  just  looking  for  you,"  exclaimed  Natasha, 
running  to  him.  "  I  told  you  so,  but  you  would  not 
believe  me,"  said  she,  triumphantly.  "  He  has  pro- 
posed for  Sonya." 

Little  as  Sonya  had  occupied  Nikolai's  thoughts  dur- 
ing these  last  weeks,  still  he  felt  a  sort  of  pang  when  he 
learned  this.  Dolokhof  was  a  suitable,  and  in  some 
respects  a  brilliant,  match  for  the  dowerless  orphan, 
Sonya.  From  the  old  countess's  standpoint,  and  that 
of  society,  it  was  simply  madness  to  refuse  him.  And, 
therefore,  NikolaY's  first  feeling  on  hearing  this  piece  of 
news  was  that  of  indignation  against  the  girl. 

He  had  it  on  his  tongue's  end  to  say,  "  And  it  is  an 
excellent  thing,  of  course,  for  her  to  forget  her  old 
promises,  and  accept  this  first  proposal,"  but  before  he 
spoke,  Natasha  went  on  :  — 

"  And  can  you  imagine  it,  she  refused  him  ?  —  abso- 
lutely refused  him  !  She  told  him  that  she  loved  some 
one  else,"  she  added,  after  a  moment's  silence. 

"  Yes,  and  could  my  Sonya  have  done  anything 
else  !  "  thought  Nikolai. 

"  In  spite  of  all  mamma's  arguments,  she  refused 
him,  and  I  know  that  she  won't  change  her  decision  if 
she  said  that." 

"And  mamma  tried  to  persuade  her  .^ "  he  asked 
reproachfully. 

'"Yes,"  said  Natasha.  "And  now,  Nikolenka  — and 
don't  be  vexed — but  I  know  you  will  never  marry  her. 
I  am  sure  of  it,  God  knows  why,  but  I  am  perfectly  cer- 
tain that  you  will -never  marry  her." 

"Well,    you    know    nothing    about   it    at   all,"    said 


WAR   AND    PEACE  203 

Nikolar.     "But  I  must  have  a  little  talk  with  her.     How 
charming  she  is!  our  Sonya,"  he  added,  with  a  smile. 
''  Charming !  indeed  she  is.     I  will  send  her  to  you." 
And  Natasha,  kissing  her  brother,  ran  away. 
In  a  moment  Sonya  came  in,  alarmed  and  abashed, 
as  if    she  had  been  doing  something  wrong.     Nikolai 
went  to  her  and  kissed  her  hand.     This  was  the  first 
opportunity  that  they  had  enjoyed  for   some   time   of 
being  alone  together,  and  talking  about  their  love. 

"Sophie,"  said  he,  timidly,  and  then  growing  more 
and  more  confident.  "  If  you  have  seen  fit  to  refuse 
an  offer  not  only  so  brilliant,  but  so  very  advantageous 
....  he  is  a  splendid,  noble  fellow;  and  he  is  a  friend  of 
mine." 

Sonya  interrupted  him 

"  I  have  already  refused  him,"  said  she,  hastily. 
"  If  you  have  refused  him  for  my  sake,  then  I  am 
afraid  that  I...." 

Sonya  again  interrupted  him.  She  looked  at  him 
with  beseeching,  frightened  eyes. 

"  Nicholas,  don't  speak  of  that,  please,"  said  she. 
"  Nay,  but  I  must.     Maybe  it  is  unbounded  conceit 
on  my  part,  but  it  is  better   to    speak.     If   you    have 
refused  him  for  my  sake,  then  I  ought  to  tell  you  the 
whole  truth.     I  love  you,  I  think,  more  than  all...." 
"That  is  all  I  want,"  said  Sonya,  with  a  sigh. 
"  No !  but  I  have  fallen  in  love  a   thousand   times, 
and  I  shall  fall  in  love  again,  and  I  shall  never  find  any 
one  so  friendly,  so  true,  so  lovely  as  you.     But  then,  I 
am    young.     Maman  does    not   approve    of    this.     So, 
then,  simply  I  can't  make  any  promises.      And  I  beg 
of   you   to   reconsider    Dolokhof's  proposal,"    said   he, 
finding  it  hard  to  speak  his  friend's  name. 

"  Don't  mention  such  a  thing.  I  have  no  desires  at 
all.  I  love  you  as  if  you  were  my  brother,  and  shall 
always  love  you,  and  that  is  quite  enough  for  me." 

"  You  are  an  angel !  I  am  not  worthy  of  you,  but 
what  I  am  afraid  is  that  I  might  give  you  a  wrong  im- 
pression !  "     Nikolai  once  more  kissed  her  hand. 


204  WAR    AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   XII 


"loGEL  has  the  jolliest  balls  in  Moscow." 

This  was  what  the  mammas  said,  as  they  locked  at  ,heir 
adolesce7ttes,  practising  the  steps  which  they  had  just 
been  learning ;  this  was  said  also  by  the  grown-up  girls 
and  young  men,  who  came  to  these  balls  with  just  a 
shade  of  condescension,  and,  nevertheless,  found  there 
the  very  best  amusement. 

This  very  same  year,  two  engagements  had  resulted 
from  these  balls.  The  two  pretty  Princesses  Gorchakova 
found  husbands  there,  and  thus  these  balls  came  into 
still  greater  vogue.  Their  peculiarity  was  the  lack  of 
any  host  or  hostess:  they  merely  had  the  good-natured 
logel,  light  as  flying  down,  bowing  and  scraping,  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  his  art;  and  almost  all  of  his 
guests  were  those  from  whom  he  had  received  bank- 
notes in  payment  for  dancing  lessons.  The  fact  was 
only  those  came  to  these  balls  that  liked  to  dance  and 
have  a  good  time  with  the  zest  of  thirteen  or  fourteen 
year  old  maidens  wearing  a  long  dress  for  the  first  time 
in  their  lives. 

All,  with  rare  exceptions,  were  pretty,  or  at  least 
seemed  to  be.  How  enthusiastically  they  all  smiled, 
and  how  eloquent  were  their  sparkling  eyes!  Some- 
times even  the/^-i-  de  cJidle,  or  shawl  figure  was  danced 
by  his  most  advanced  pupils,  and  of  these  Natasha  was 
the  best,  as  she  was  distinguished  for  her  grace ;  but  at 
this,  the  last  of  the  season,  they  danced  only  English 
schottisches,  and  the  mazurka,  which  was  now  beginning 
to  be  fashionable. 

logel  engaged  for  the  ball  the  large  drawing-room  in 
the  Bezukhoi  mansion,  and  the  ball  was  a  great  success, 
as  every  one  confessed.  Many  were  the  pretty  girls, 
and  the  Rostof  maidens  were  among  the  prettiest.  Both 
of  them  were  remarkably  happy  and  gay.  That  evening, 
before  she  started,  Sonya,  proud  of  Dolokhof  s  proposal, 
of  her  refusal  of  him,  and  of  her  explanation  with  Niko- 
lai', whirled  around  the  house,  scarcely  giving  her  maid  a 


WAR    AND    PEACE  ^05 

.hance  to  comb  her  hair,  and  now  she  was   perfectly 
transfigured  with  impetuous  delight. 

Natasha,  not  less  proud  of  going  to  this  ball,  for  the 
first  time  in  a  long  dress,  was  even  more  radiant.  Both 
wore  muslin  gowns  with  pink  ribbons. 

The  moment  they  entered  the  ball-room,  Natasha 
began  to  be  enamoured  of  every  one.  She  was  not 
enamoured  of  any  one  in  particular,  but  of  all !  Whom- 
ever her  eyes  happened  to  fall  upon,  with  him  she  was 
deeply  in  love  for  the  time  being. 

''  Akh  !  how  nice  it  is  !  "  she  kept  saying,  whenever 
she  met  Sonya. 

Nikolai  and  Denisof  strolled  through  the  rooms, 
looking  graciously  and  condescendingly  on  the  dancers. 

"  How  pwetty  she  is  !     She  will  be  a  waving  beauty  !  " 

-Who?" 

"The  Countess  Natasha,"  replied  Denisof. 

"  And  how  charmingly  she  dances  !  What  gwace  !  " 
he  said  once  more,  after  a  little  pause. 

''  Whom  are  you  talking  about .?  " 

-  I  was  refe'wing  to  your  sister,"  said  Denisof,  testily. 

Rostof  smiled. 

''  My  dear  count,  you  are  one  of  my  best  pupils,  you 
must  dance,"  said  the  little  logel,  coming  up  to  Nikolat. 
"  Just  see  what  a  lot  of  pretty  girls." 

And  with  the  same  request  he  turned  to  Denisof, 
who  also  had  been  one  of  his  pupils. 

"  No,  my  dear,  I  pwefer  to  be  a  wall-flower,"  replied 
Denisof.  *'  Don't  you  wemember  how  illy  I  pwofited 
by  your  lessons  ?  " 

"Oh,  no,"  said  logel,  hastening  to  reassure  him. 
"  You  were  only  somewhat  inattentive,  but  you  had  the 
ability  ;  oh,  yes,  you  had  the  ability." 

The  band  now  began  to  play  the  newly  introduced 
mazurka.  Nikolai  could  not  refuse  logel,  and  invited 
Sonya  as  his  partner.  Denisof  sat  down  with  some  of 
the  elderly  ladies,  and,  leaning  his  elbows  on  his  sword 
and  beating  time  with  his  foot,  told  jolly  stories  and 
made  the  old  ladies  laugh,  while  his  eyes  followed  the 
young  people  dancing. 


2o6  WAR    AND    PEACE 

logel  led  the  mazurka  with  Natasha,  who  was  his 
pride  and  his  best  pupil.  Noiselessly,  skilfully  shuf- 
fling his  feet,  shod  in  pumps,  logel  flew  around  the 
hall  with  Natasha,  rather  timid,  but,  nevertheless,  per- 
forming all  the  steps  with  the  utmost  care. 

Denisof  did  not  take  his  eyes  from  her,  and  thumped 
his  sword  in  time,  with  an  expression  that  said  clearly 
that  he  was  not  dancing  simply  because  he  did  not 
care  to,  and  not  because  he  was  not  able.  In  the  midst 
of  the  figure  he  saw  Rostof  passing,  and  called  him  to 
him. 

"That's  no  way  at  all,"  said  he;  "do  you  call 
that  the  Polish  mazurka?  But  she  dances  admiwably 
though ! " 

Knowing  that  Denisof  in  Poland  had  won  great  repu- 
tation for  his  skill  in  dancing  the  genuine  Polish  ma- 
zurka, Nikolai"  glided  over  to  Natasha  :  — 

"  Go  ahead,"  said  he,  "  choose  Denisof  !  He  dances 
splendidly !     It 's  wonderful !  " 

When  it  came  Natasha's  turn  again,  she  got  up  and, 
swiftly  chas seeing  across  the  hall  in  her  dainty  slippers 
trimmed  with  rosettes,  she  blushingly  made  her  way 
to  the  corner  where  Denisof  was  sitting.  She  saw  that 
all  were  looking  at  her  and  waiting.  Nikolai'  noticed 
that  Denisof  and  Natasha  were  having  a  playful  quar- 
rel, and  that  the  former  refused,  but  smiled  with  grati- 
fication.    He  went  up  to  them. 

"  Please,  Vasili  Dmitritch,"  said  Natasha.  "  Come, 
please  do !  " 

"  I  pway  you,  let  me  off,  countess." 

"  There,  there,  that 's  no  excuse,  Vasya ! "  said  Ni- 
kolai. 

"Just  like  two  kittens  persuading  Vaska,"  said  De- 
nisof, jestingly. 

"  I  will  sing  a  whole  evening  for  you,"  pleaded 
Natasha. 

"  The  enchantwess  can  do  anything  with  me !  "  ex- 
claimed Denisof,  and  he  laid  aside  his  sword.  He 
made  his  way  out  from  among  the  chairs,  firmly  grasped 
his  partner's  hand,  threw  back  his  head,  and  put  his 


WAR    AND    PEACE  207 

feet    in    position,    waiting   to    catch   the    beat    of    the 


music. 


Only  on  horseback,  or  while  dancing  the  mazurka, 
was  Denisof's  small  stature  lost  sight  of,  and  he 
appeared  to  be  the  gallant  young  hero  that  he  felt  him- 
self to  be.  While  waiting  to  get  the  time,  he  glanced 
askance  at  his  partner  triumphantly  and  mischievously, 
then  suddenly  stamped  with  one  foot,  and,  like  a  tennis- 
ball,  bounded  up  elastically,  and  sped  out  into  the  mid- 
dle '  of  the  room,  carrying  his  lady  with  him.  Noise- 
lessly, he  flew  half  across  the  hall  on  one  foot,  and, 
apparently,  not  seeing  the  chairs  ranged  in  front  of 
him,  was  like  to  have  run  right  into  them  ;  but,  sud- 
denly clinking  his  spurs  and  spreading  his  legs,  he 
stopped  on  his  heels,  stood  so  for  a  second,  then  with 
a  clanking  of  his  spurs,  making  a  sort  of  double  shuffle, 
quickly  turned  about,  and,  with  his  left  heel  clicking 
against  the  right,  he  again  flew  around  the  circle. 

Natasha  reaUzed  by  a  sort  of  intuition  what  he  in- 
tended to  do,  and  herself  not  knowing  how,  simply 
followed  him,  and  gave  herself  up  to  his  guidance.  ^ 

Now  he  would  whirl  around  her  from  left  to  right, 
then  from  right  to  left ;  now  falling  on  his  knee  cause 
her  to  pirouette  around  him,  and  then,  again,  he  would 
spring  up  and  dart  off  in  a  straight  line  with  such  im- 
petuosity, without  even  taking  breath,  that  it  seemed 
as  if  they  were  going  straight  through  all  the  rooms  ; 
then  suddenly  he  would  come  to  a  pause  again,  and 
execute  some  other  new  and  unexpected  evolution. 
When  at  last,  swiftly  whirling  his  lady  about  in  front 
of  her  own  seat,  and  jingling  his  spurs,  he  made  her  a 
low  bow,  Natasha  forgot  to  perform  a  courtesy.  In 
perplexity,  she  fixed  her  eyes  upon  him,  smiling  as  if 
she  did  not  know  him.  ''What  does  this  mean  .?  "  she 
asked  herself. 

Although  logel  refused  to  acknowledge  such  a  dance 
as  a  proper  mazurka,  all  were  in  raptures  over  Denisof's 
skill ;  he  was  in  constant  requisition  as  a  partner,  and 
the  old  people,  smiling,  began  to  talk  about  Poland, 
and  about  the  good  old  times.     Denisof,  flushed  from 


2o8  WAR    AND    PEACE 

the  exertion  of  the  mazurka,  and  wiping  his  face  with 
his  handkerchief,  sat  down  next  Natasha,  and  through 
the  rest  of  the  evening  did  not  leave  her  side. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

For  two  days,  Rostof  had  not  seen  Dolakhof  at  his 
house,  or  found  him  at  home ;  on  the  third  day  he  re- 
ceived a  note  from  him  :  — 

"  As  I  intend  never  to  visit  your  house  again,  from 
reasons  which  you  may  appreciate,  and  as  I  am  about  to 
rejoin  my  regiment,  I  am  going  to  give  to  my  friends  a 
farewell  supper  this  evening.  Come  to  the  Eng-lish 
hotel." 

At  ten  o'clock  that  evening,  after  the  theater,  where 
he  had  been  with  Denisof  and  his  family,  Rostof  re- 
paired to  the  place  which  Dolokhof  had  designated. 
He  was  immediately  shown  into  the  handsomest  room 
of  the  hotel,  which  Dolokhof  had  engaged  for  the  occa- 
sion. A  score  of  men  were  gathered  around  the  table, 
at  the  head  of  which  sat  Dolokhof,  between  two  candles. 
There  was  a  pile  of  gold  and  bills  on  the  table,  and 
Dolokhof  was  keeping  the  bank. 

Since  Dolokhof's  proposal  and  Sonya's  refusal,  Niko- 
lai' had  not  seen  him,  and  he  felt  a  slight  sense  of  con- 
fusion at  the  thought  of  their  meeting. 

Dolokhof's  keen,  cold  eyes  met  Nikolaf's  the  moment 
he  entered  the  room,  as  if  he  had  been  waiting  for  him 
for  some  time. 

''We  have  not  met  for  several  days,"  said  Dolokhof, 
"  thank  you  for  coming.  Here,  I  will  only  finish  this 
hand.     Ilyushka  and  his  chorus  are  coming." 

"  I  have  called  at  your  house,"  said  Rostof,  reddening. 

Dolokhof  made  him  no  answer. 

"You  may  bet,"  he  said. 

Rostof  recalled  a  strange  conversation  which  he  had 
once  had  with  Dolokhof.  "  Only  fools  play  on  chance," 
had  been  Dolokhof's  remark  at  the  time. 

"  But  perhaps  you  are  afraid  to  play  with  me,"  said 


WAR   AND    PEACE  209 

Dolokhof  now,  as  if  he  read  Rostof's  thought,  and  he 
smiled. 

By  his  smile,  Rostof  could  plainly  see  that  he  was  m 
the  same  frame  of  mind  as  he  had  been  at  the  time  of 
the  dinner  at  the  club,  or,  one  might  say,  at  any  of 
those  times  when  Dolokhof,  bored  by  the  monotony 
of  life,  felt  the  necessity  of  escaping  from  it  by  some 
strange  and  usually  outrageous  action. 

Rostof  felt  ill  at  ease.  He  racked  his  bram,  but  was 
unable  to  find  an  appropriate  repartee  for  Dolokhof's 
words.  But  before  he  had  a  chance  to  reply,  Dolokhof, 
looking  straight  into  Rostof's  face,  said  slowly,  with 
deliberate  intervals  between  the  words,  so  that  all  might 
hear :  — 

**Do  you  remember  you   and   I   were  talkmg    once 
about  gambling?....     *  It's  a  fool,  a  durak,  who  is  will- 
ing to  play  on  chance.     One  ought  to  play  a  sure  hand, 
but  I  am  going  to  try  it."  ^. 

*'  Try  the  chance  or  the  sure  thing  —  I  wonder  which, 
thought  Rostof. 

"Well,  you'd  better  not  play,"  he  added,  and  spring- 
ing the  freshly  opened  pack  of  cards,  he  cried:  — 
'*  Bank,  gentlemen  !  " 

Pushing  the  money  forward,  Dolokhof  prepared  to 
start  the  bank.  Rostof  took  a  seat  near^  him,  and  at 
first  did  not  play.     Dolokhof  glanced  at  him. 

*'What?  Won't  you  take  a  hand .?"  and  strangely 
enough  Nikolai*  felt  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  select 
a  card,  and  stake  an  insignificant  sum  on  it,  and  thus 
begin  to  play. 

''I  have  no  money  with  me,"  he  said. 
*'  I  will  trust  you." 

Rostof  staked  five  rubles  on  his  card  and  lost;  he 
staked  again,  and  again  he  lost.  Dolokhof  trumped, 
in  other  words  took  Rostof's  stake  ten  times  run- 
ning. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  after  he  had  been  keeping  the 
bank  some  time,  "  I  beg  of  you  to  lay  your  stakes  on 
the  cards,  otherwise,  I  may  become  confused  in  the 
accounts." 

VOL.  II. — 14 


2IO  WAR    AND    PEACE 

One  of  the  players  ventured  the  hope  that  he  was  to 
be  trusted. 

**I  trust  you,  certainly,  but  I  am  afraid  of  getting 
the  accounts  mixed.  I  beg  of  you  to  lay  your  money 
on  the  cards,"  replied  Dolokhof.  "  Don't  you  worry 
yourself,  you  and  I  will  settle  our  accounts  afterwards," 
he  added,  turning  to  Rostof. 

The  game  went  on;  the  servant  kept  filling  their 
glasses  with  champagne. 

All  Rostof's  cards  failed  to  be  matched,  and  his  losses 
amounted  to  eight  hundred  rubles.  He  was  just  writing 
down  on  the  back  of  a  card  eight  hundred  rubles,  but, 
as  it  happened  that  at  that  moment  a  glass  of  cham- 
pagne was  handed  him,  he  hesitated,  and  once  more 
staked  the  sum  that  he  had  been  risking  all  along,  that 
is,  twenty  rubles. 

"  Make  it  that,"  said  Dolokhof,  though  he  was  ap- 
parently not  looking  at  Rostof.  "  You  '11  win  it  back  all 
the  quicker.  The  others  win  but  you  keep  losing.  Or 
are  you  afraid  of  me  ? "  he  insisted. 

Rostof  acquiesced,  staked  the  eight  hundred  which 
he  had  written  down  on  a  seven  of  hearts  with  a  bent 
corner,  which  he  had  picked  up  from  the  floor.  He  re- 
membered it  well  enough  afterwards.  He  laid  down 
this  seven  of  hearts,  after  writing  on  the  broken  part, 
the  figures  eight  hundred,  in  large,  distinct  characters  ; 
he  drank  the  glass  of  foaming  champagne  handed  him 
by  the  waiter,  smiled  at  Dolokhof's  words,  and,  with  a 
sinking  at  the  heart,  while  hoping  that  a  seven  would 
turn  up,  watched  the  pack  of  cards  in  Dolokhof's  hands. 

The  gain  or  loss  dependent  on  this  seven  of  hearts 
would  have  very  serious  consequences  for  Rostof.  On 
the  preceding  Sunday,  Count  Ilya  Andreyitch  had 
given  his  son  two  thousand  rubles,  and,  although  he 
generally  disliked  to  speak  of  his  pecuniary  difficulties, 
had  told  him  that  he  could  not  have  any  more  till  May, 
and  therefore  begged  him,  for  this  once,  to  be  rather 
economical.  ^  Nikolai  had  told  him  that  that  would  be 
amply  sufficient,  and  gave  him  his  word  of  honor  not 
to  ask  for  any  money  till  spring. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  211 

And  now,  out  of  that  sum,  only  twelve  hundred  rubles 
were  left.  Of  course  that  seven  of  hearts,  if  he 
lost  on  it,  would  signify  not  only  the  loss  of  sixteen 
hundred  rubles,  but  also  the  necessity  of  breaking  his 
word  to  his  father.  With  a  sinking  of  the  heart,  there- 
fore, he  watched  Dolokhof's  hands,  and  said  to  him- 
self:— 

"Now  let  him  hurry  up  and  give  me  this  card, 
and  I  will  put  on  my  cap  and  go  home  to  supper  with 
Denisof,  Natasha,  and  Sonya,  and  truly  I  will  never,  as 
long  as  I  live,  take  a  card  into  my  hands  again." 

At  that  instant  his  home  life,  his  romps  with  Petya, 
his  talks  with  Sonya,  his  duets  with  Natasha,  his  game 
of  piquet  with  his  father,  and  even  his  peaceful  bed  in 
his  home  on  the  Pavarskaya,  came  over  him  with  such 
force  and  vividness  and  attraction,  that  it  seemed  to  him 
like  an  inestimable  bliss,  which  had  passed  and  been 
destroyed  forever. 

He  could  not  bring  himself  to  believe  that  stupid 
chance,  by  throwing  the  seven  of  hearts  to  the  right 
rather  than  to  the  left,  might  deprive  him  of  all  this 
just  comprehended  and  just  appreciated  happiness,  and 
plunge  him  into  the  abyss  of  a  wretchedness  never  be- 
fore experienced,  and  of  which  he  had  no  adequate 
idea.  It  could  not  be  so,  and  yet,  with  a  fever  of  ex- 
pectation, he  watched  every  motion  of  Dolokhof's 
hands.  Those  coarse  reddish  hands  with  wide  knuckles 
and  hairy  wrists,  showing  from  under  his  shirt  bands, 
laid  down  the  pack  of  cards,  and  took  up  the  cham- 
pagne glass  that  had  been  handed  him,  and  put  his 
pipe  in  his  mouth. 

''And  so  you  are  not  afraid  to  play  with  me.?"  re- 
peated Dolokhof,  and,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  telling 
some  humorous  story,  he  laid  down  the  cards,  leaned 
back  in  his  chair,  and  with  a  smile  delibejately  began 
to  speak :  — 

**  Yes,  gentlemen,  I  have  been  told  that  there  is  a 
report  current  in  Moscow,  that  I  am  a  sharper,  and  so 
I  advise  you  to  be  on  your  guard  against  me." 

''Come  now,  deal  ahead  !  "  said  Rostof. 


212  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"  Okh  !  these  Moscow  grannies  !  "  exclaimed  Dolo- 
khof,  and  with  a  smile  he  took  up  the  cards. 

"Aaaakh!"  almost  screamed  Rostof,  clasping  his 
head  with  both  hands.  The  seven  which  he  needed 
already  lay  on  top,  the  very  first  card  in  the  pack.  He 
had  lost  more  than  he  could  pay. 

"Now,  don't  ruin  yourself!"  said  Dolokhof,  giving 
Rostof  a  passing  glance,  and  proceeded  to  deal  the 
cards. 

CHAPTER   XIV 

During  the  next  hour  and  a  half,  the  majority  of  the 
gamblers  watched  with  much  amusement  their  own  play. 

The  whole  game  centered  on  Rostof  alone.  Instead 
of  the  sixteen  hundred  rubles  against  him  there  was 
already  a  long  column  of  figures  which  he  had  reckoned 
to  be  at  least  ten  thousand  rubles,  and  which  he  now 
vaguely  imagined  to  be  perhaps  fifteen  thousand.  In 
reality  the  sums  footed  up  to  more  than  twenty  thou- 
sand rubles. 

Dolokhof  no  longer  listened  to  stories  or  told  them 
himself;  he  watched  each  motion  of  Rostof 's  hands, 
and  occasionally  cast  hasty  glances  at  the  paper  con- 
taining Rostof's  indebtedness.  He  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  keep  him  playing  until  his  losses  should  reach 
forty-three  thousand  rubles.  He  had  selected  this 
number  because  forty-three  represented  the  sum  of  his 
and  Sonya's  ages. 

Rostof,  supporting  his  head  in  both  hands,  sat  in 
front  of  the  table,  now  all  written  over,  wet  with  wine, 
and  littered  with  cards.  One  painful  impression  filled 
his  mind:  those  wide-jointed,  red  hands  with  the  hairy 
wrists,  those  hands  which  he  loved  and  which  he  also 
hated,  held  him  in  their  power. 

**Six  hundred  rubles,  ace,  quarter-stakes,  nine  spot.... 
impossible  to  win  it  back....  and  how  gay  it  w^ould  be 
at  home  !  —  Knave  on  five  —  it  cannot  be.  —  And  why 
is  he  treating  me  so  ?  "  said  Rostof  to  himself,  mingling 
his  thoughts  and  recollections. 


! 


WAR   AND    PEACE  213 

Sometimes  he  staked  on  a  card  a  large  sum,  but 
Dolokbof  refused  to  accept  it,  and  himself  named  the 
stake.  Nikolai  would  submit,  and  then  pray  God,  just 
as  he  had  prayed  on  the  battle-field  at  the  bridge  of 
Amstetten ;  then  it  would  occur  to  him  that  perhaps 
the  first  card  that  he  should  draw  from  the  pile  of  re- 
jected cards  on  the  table  would  save  him ;  then  he 
would  count  up  the  number  of  buttons  on  his  jacket, 
and  select  a  card  with  the  same  number  on  which  to 
stake  the  double  of  what  he  had  already  lost ;  then, 
again,  he  would  look  for  aid  to  the  other  players,  or 
glance  into  Dolokhof's  face,  now  so  cold,  and  try  to  read 
what  was  passing  in  his  mind. 

"  Of  course  he  knows  what  this  loss  means  for  me. 
It  cannot  be  that  he  desires  me  to  lose  like  this.     For 

he  was  my  friend.     For  I  loved  him But  of  course 

it  isn't  his  fault;  how  can  he  help  it  if  luck  favors 
him  ?  And  neither  am  I  -to  blame,"  said  he  to  himself. 
''  I  have  done  nothing  wrong.  Have  I  killed  any  one, 
or  insulted  any  one,  or  wished  any  one  evil  ?  Why, 
then,  this  horrible  misfortune  }  And  when  did  it  begin  ? 
It  was  only  such  a  short  time  ago  that  I  came  to  this 
table  with  the  idea  of  winning  a  hundred  rubles,  so  as 
to  buy  for  mamma's  birthday  that  jewel-box,  and  then 
go  home.  I  was  so  happy,  so  free  from  care,  so  gay  ! 
And  I  did  not  realize  then  how  happy  I  was !  When 
did  it  all  end,  and  when  did  this  new,  this  horrible  state 
of  things  begin  ?  What  does  this  change  signify  ?  And 
here  I  am,  just  the  same  as  before,  sitting  in  the  same 
place  at  this  table,  choosing  and  moving  the  same  cards, 
and  looking  at  those  wide-knuckled,  dexterous  hands. 
When  did  this  take  place,  and  what  is  it  that  has  taken 
place  ?  I  am  well,  strong,  and  just  the  same  as  I  was, 
and  in  the  selfsame  place  !  No,  it  cannot  be  !  Surely, 
this  cannot  end  in  such  a  way !  " 

His  face  was  flushed,  he  was  all  in  a  perspiration,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  it  was  not  warm  in  the  room.  And 
his  face  was  terrible  and  pitiable,  especially  on  account 
of  his  futile  efforts  to  seem  composed. 

The  list  of  his  losses  was  nearing  the  fatal  number 


214  WAR    AND    PEACE 

of  forty-three  thousand.  Rostof  had  in  readiness  a  card 
with  the  corner  turned  down  as  the  quarter-stakes  for 
three  thousand  rubles,  which  he  had  just  won,  when 
Dolokhof,  rapping  with  the  pack,  flung  it  down,  and 
taking  the  lump  of  chalk  began  swiftly  to  reckon  up  the 
sum  total  of  Rostof 's  losses,  with  his  firm,  legible  figures, 
breaking  the  chalk  as  he  did  so. 

'*  Supper,  it 's  time  for  supper,  and  here  are  the 
Tsigans!  " 

It  was  a  fact;  at  that  moment  a  number  of  dark-skinned 
men  and  women  came  in,  bringing  with  them  a  gust  of 
cold  air,  and  saying  something  in  their  gypsy  accent. 
Nikolai  realized  that  all  was  over;  but  he  said,  in  an 
indifferent  tone:  — 

"  What,  can't  we  play  any  more  ?  Ah,  but  I  had  a 
splendid  little  card  all  ready  !  " 

Just  as  if  the  mere  amusement  of  the  game  was  what 
interested  him  the  most ! 

"All  is  over!  I  have  lost!"  was  what  he  thought. 
"  Now  a  bullet  through  my  brains  —  that 's  all  that 's 
left,"  and  yet  he  said  in  a  jocund  tone,  "Come  now, 
just  this  one  card !  " 

"Very  well,"  replied  Dolokhof,  completing  the  sum 
total,  "  very  good !  Make  it  twenty-one  rubles  then," 
said  he,  pointing  to  the  figures  twenty-one,  which  was 
over  and  above  the  round  sum  of  forty-three  thousand ; 
and,  taking  up  the  pack  of  cards,  he  began  to  shuffle 
them.  Rostof  obediently  turned  back  the  corner,  and, 
instead  of  the  six  thousand  which  he  was  going  to  wager, 
carefully  wrote  twenty-one. 

"It's  all  the  same  to  me!"  said  he,  "all  I  wanted 
to  know  was  whether  you  would  give  me  the  ten  or 
not." 

Dolokhof  gravely  began  to  deal.  Oh,  how  Rostof  at 
that  moment  hated  those  red  hands,  with  the  short  fingers 
and  the  hairy  wrists  emerging  from  his  shirt  bands, 
those  hands  that  had  him  in  their  grasp  ! 

The  ten-spot  fell  to  him. 

"  Well,  you  owe  me  just  forty-three  thousand,  count," 
said  Dolokhof,  getting  up  from  the  table  and  stretching 


WAR   AND    PEACE  215 

himself.  "One  gets  tired  sitting  still  so  long,"  he 
added. 

'*  Yes,  and  I  am  used  up,  also,"  said  Rostof. 

Dolokhof,  as  if  to  remind  him  that  it  was  not  seemty 
to  jest,  interrupted  him  :  — 

"  When  do  you  propose  to  pay  me  this  money,  count? " 

Rostof,  coloring  with  shame,  drew  Dolokhof  into  an- 
other room.  *'  I  cannot  pay  you  at  such  short  notice, 
you  must  take  my  note,"  said  he. 

**  Listen,  Rostof,"  said  Dolokhof,  with  a  frank  smile, 
and  looking  into  Nikolai's  eyes,  "  you  know  the  proverb  : 
'  Lucky  in  love,  unlucky  at  cards.'  Your  cousin  is  in 
love  with  you,  I  know." 

"  Oh  !  how  horrible  it  is  to  be  in  this  man's  power," 
thought  Rostof.  He  realized  what  a  blow  it  would  be 
to  his  father,  to  his  mother,  to  learn  that  he  had  been 
gambling  and  losing  so  much.  He  realized  what  happi- 
ness it  would  be  if  he  could  only  have  avoided  doing 
it,  or  could  escape  confessing  it,  and  he  realized  that 
Dolokhof  knew  how  easily  he  might  save  him  from  this 
shame  and  pain,  and  yet,  here  he  was  playing  with  him 
as  a  cat  plays  with  a  mouse. 

''Your  cousin...."  Dolokhof  started  to  say;  but 
Nikolai'  interrupted  him. 

"  My  cousin  has  nothing  to  do  with  this,  and  there  is 
no  need  of  bringing  her  in,"  he  cried,  in  a  fury. 

"  Then  when  will  you  pay  me  ?  "  demanded  Dolokhof. 

"  To-morrow,"  replied  Rostof,  and  he  left  the  room. 


CHAPTER  XV 

To  say  "  to-morrow,"  and  to  preserve  the  conventional 
tone  of  decency,  was  not  hard ;  but  to  go  home  alone, 
to  see  his  brother  and  sisters,  his  father  and  mother,  to 
confess  his  fault  and  ask  for  money  to  which  he  had  no 
right,  after  giving  his  word  of  honor,  was  horrible. 

When  Nikolai'  reached  home,  the  family  were  still 
up.  The  young  people  on  their  return  from  the  theater 
had  had  supper,  and  were  now  sitting  at  the  clavichord 


2i6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

As  soon  as  he  entered  the  music-room  he  felt  himself 
surrounded  by  that  poetical  atmosphere  of  love  which 
had  reigned  all  winter  in  that  home,  and  which,  now, 
after  Dolokhof's  proposal  and  logel's  ball,  had  seemed 
to  condense  especially  around  Sonya  and  Natasha,  like 
the  air  before  a  thunderstorm.  Sonya  and  Natasha 
were  in  the  blue  gowns  which  they  had  worn  to  the 
theater.  Pretty,  and  realizing  that  fact,  they  stood 
happy  and  smiling  around  the  clavichord.  Viera  and 
Shinshin  were  playing  checkers  in  the  drawing-room. 
The  old  countess,  waiting  for  her  son  and  husband,  was 
laying  out  a  game  of  patience  with  the  aid  of  an  old 
noblewoman  who  made  her  home  in  their  family.  Deni- 
sof,  with  shining  eyes  and  bristling  hair,  sat  at  the  clavi- 
chord with  one  leg  thrust  out  behind  him,  and,  while 
drumming  out  the  accompaniment  with  his  little,  short 
fingers,  was  singing  in  his  thin,  hoarse,  but  true  voice 
some  verses  which  he  had  composed  under  the  title 
*' The  Enchantress,"  and  to  which  he  was  trying  to  suit 
the  music :  — 

"  Enchantress,  tell  by  what  strange  charm  compelling 
Thou  draw'st  me  back  to  long  unwonted  chords  ! 
What  magic  flames  within  my  heart  are  swelling  ! 
What  rapture  thrills  me,  all  too  deep  for  words  ! ''' 

He  sang  in  a  passionate  voice,  and  fixed  his  bright, 
black,  agate-colored  eyes  on  Natasha. 

*'  Lovely  !  delightful !  "  cried  she.  "  Still  another 
verse,"  she  urged,  not  yet  perceiving  Nikolai'. 

"  With  them  it  is  just  the  same,"  said  Nikolai  to  him- 
self, looking  into  the  drawing-room,  where  he  saw  Viera, 
his  mother,  and  the  old  lady. 

"Ah!  and  here  is  Nikolenka !  "  cried  Natasha,  run- 
ning to  him. 

"  Is  papenka  at  home  .?  "  he  demanded. 

"  How  glad  I  am  you  have  come !  "  exclaimed  Nata- 
sha, not  answering  his  question.  "We  are  having  such 
a  jolly  time;  Vasi'li  Dmitritch  is  going  to  stay  another 
day,  just  for  my  sake  ;  did  you  know  it .''  " 

"  No,  papa  hasn't  come  home  yet,"  said  Sonya. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  217 

"  Koko,  have  you  come  ?  Come  here,  dear !  "  cried 
the  countess,  from  the  drawing-room.  Nikolai  went  to 
his  mother,  kissed  her  hand,  and,  without  saying  a  word, 
took  a  seat  near  her  table  and  began  to  watch  her  hands 
as  she  laid  out  the  cards.  From  the  music-room  they 
could  hear  the  sounds  of  laughter,  and  merry  voices  try- 
ing to  persuade  Natasha. 

"  Well,  very  good,  very  good,"  exclaimed  Denisof. 
"  Now  there  's  no  good  your  refusing ;  it 's  your  turn  ! 
Give  us  the  barcarole,  I  beg  of  you !  " 

The  countess  noticed  her  son's  silence. 

"  What's  the  matter  with  you.?  "  she  asked. 

"  Akh,  nothing,"  said  he,  as  if  he  had  heard  the  same 
question  till  he  was  weary  of  it.  "  Will  papenka  be  back 
soon  .-*  " 

'*I  think  so." 

"  They  are  the  same  as  ever.  They  know  nothing 
about  it.  Where  can  I  hide  myself  }  "  thought  Nikolai', 
and  he  went  again  into  the  music-room,  where  the  clavi- 
chord stood. 

Sonya  was  sitting  at  it,  and  playing  the  introduction 
to  the  barcarole  which  was  Denisof's  especial  favorite. 
Natasha  was  preparing  to  sing.  Denisof  was  looking 
at  her  with  enthusiastic  eyes. 

Nikolai  began  to  pace  up  and  down  the  room. 

*'  Now,  why  should  they  want  to  make  her  sing  ? 
What  can  she  sing  ?  There  's  nothing  here  to  make  a 
fellow  feel  happy  !  "  said  Nikolai  to  himself. 

Sonya  struck  the  first  chord  of  the  prelude. 

'*  My  God,  I  am  a  ruined,  dishonorable  man !  A  bullet 
through  my  brain,  that  is  the  only  thing  left  for  me,  and 
not  singing  !  "  his  thoughts  went  on.  **  Go  away  ?  But 
where  ?     Very  well,  let  them  sing  !  " 

Nikolai'  continued  gloomily  striding  up  and  down  the 
room,  glancing  at  Denisof  and  the  girls,  but  avoiding 
their  eyes. 

*  Nikolenka,  what  is  the  matter.'* '  Sonya's  eyes,  fixed 
on  him,  seemed  to  ask.  She  had  immediately  seen  that 
something  unusual  had  happened  to  him. 

Nikolai'  turned  away  from  her.     Natasha  also,  with 


2i8  WAR   AND    PEACE 

her  quickness  of  perception,  had  instantly  noticed  her 
brother's  preoccupation.  She  had  observed  it,  but  she 
felt  so  full  of  merriment  at  that  time,  her  mood  was  so 
far  removed  from  grief,  melancholy,  and  reproaches, 
that  (as  often  happens  in  the  case  of  young  girls)  she 
purposely  deceived  herself. 

**  No,  I  'm  too  happy  now  to  disturb  my  joy  by  trying 
to  sympathize  in  the  unhappiness  of  another,"  was  her 
feeling,  and  she  said  to  herself :  "  No,  of  course  I  am 
mistaken.  It  must  be  that  he  is  as  happy  as  I  am  my- 
self. Now,  Sonya,"  said  she,  and  she  started  to  goto  the 
very  middle  of  the  music-room,  where,  in  her  opinion, 
her  voice  would  have  the  most  resonance.  Lifting  her 
head,  and  letting  her  hands  hang  easily  by  her  side,  just 
as  ballet-dancers  do,  Natasha,  with  a  fine  display  of 
energy,  skipping  from  her  little  heels  to  her  tiptoes, 
flew  out  into  the  middle  of  the  room,  and  there  paused, 
"  See  what  a  girl  I  am !  "  she  seemed  to  say,  in  answer 
to  Denisof's  enthusiastic  eyes  following  her. 

"Now,  what  is  she  so  happy  about,  I  wonder.?" 
queried  Nikolai',  as  he  glanced  at  his  sister.  "  And  how 
can  it  be  that  she  isn't  tired  to  death  of  it  all  ?  " 

Natasha  took  the  first  note,  her  throat  swelled,  her 
bosom  rose,  her  eyes  assumed  a  serious  expression.  She 
thought  of  no  one,  of  nothing  in  particular  at  that  mo- 
ment, and  from  the  smiling  mouth  gushed  the  sounds, 
those  sounds  which  may  proceed  in  the  same  te7npo 
and  with  the  same  rhythm,  but  which  a  thousand  times 
leave  you  cold  and  unmoved,  and  the  thousand  and  first 
time  make  you  tremble  and  weep. 

Natasha  this  winter  had  for  the  first  time  begun  to 
take  singing  seriously ;  this  was  especially  because 
Denisof  had  been  so  enthusiastic  over  her  voice.  She 
sang  now  not  like  a  school-girl,  nor  was  there  in  her 
singing  anything  of  that  ludicrous,  childish  effort  which 
had  formerly  been  characteristic  of  her.  She  still  sang 
far  from  well,  as  all  the  connoisseurs  who  had  heard 
her  declared.  *'  Not  developed  yet,  but  still  a  lovely 
voice  ;  she  ought  to  cultivate  it,"  said  every  one.  But 
this  was  said  generally  some  time  after  the  sounds  of 


WAR    AND    PEACE  219 

her  voice  had  entirely  died  away.  While  this,  as  yet, 
untrained  voice,  breathing  in  the  wrong  places,  and 
finding  it  difficult  to  conquer  rapid  runs,  was  ringing 
out,  even  connoisseurs  found  nothing  to  say,  but  felt 
themselves  unexpectedly  moved  by  it,  and  only  anxious 
to  hear  it  again.  In  her  voice  there  was  a  girlish  sen- 
sitiveness, an  unconsciousness  of  its  own  powers,  and  an 
untrained  velvetiness,  which  were  combined  with  the 
lack  of  knowledge  of  the  art  of  singing  in  such  a  way. 
that  it  seemed  as  if  it  would  be  impossible  to  change 
anything  in  that  voice  without  ruining  it. 

"  What  does  this  mean  ? "  queried  Nikolai",  as  he 
listened  to  her  voice  and  opened  his  eyes  v/ide.  ''  What 
has  come  over  her  ?  How  she  sings  to-night !  "  he  said 
to  himself.  And  suddenly  all  the  world  for  him  was 
concentrated  on  the  expectation  of  the  following  note, 
the  succeeding  phrase,  and  everything  in  the  world 
was  divided  into  those  three  beats:  '' O/i  mio  criidele 
affetto'\...oxiQ,  two,  three;  one  ....  two  ....  three  ;  one.... 
two  !  ''oh  mio  crudele  affetto  "  ....  one  ....  two  ....  three  .... 
one  —  "  Ekh  !  how  foohsh  our  life  all  is  !  "  said  Nikolai 
to  himself.  "  All  of  it  and  our  unhappiness  and  money 
and  Dolokhof  and  anger  and  honor;  it  is  all  rubbish, 
and  this  is  the  only  real  thing !  There,  Natasha,  there, 
gaiubchik !  there,  matushka  !  Will  she  take  that  si  ? 
Yes,  she  's  taken  it.  Glory  to  God  —  Slava  Bohu^  !  " 
and  he  himself,  without  noticing  that  he  was  singing, 
struck  in  the  second  a  third  below,  in  order  to  support 
that  si. 

*'  Good  heavens  !  how  nice !  Did  I  take  it  right ! 
How  splendid!  "  he  said  to  himself. 

Oh  !  how  that  accord  vibrated  !  and  how  all  that  was 
best  in  Rostof's  soul  came  up  to  the  surface.  And  this 
was  something  independent  of  all  in  the  world,  and 
higher  than  all  in  the  world.  What,  in  comparison 
with  this,  were  his  losses,  and  such  men  as  Dolokhof 
and  his  word  of  honor !  All  rubbish.  One  might  kill 
and  rob  and  still  be  happy ! .... 


^2o  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   XVI 


It  was  long  since  Rostof  had  experienced  any  such 
delight  from  music  as  he  did  that  night.  But,  as  soon 
as  Natasha  had  finished  her  barcarole,  the  grim  reality 
again  came  back  to  him.  Without  saying  a  word  to 
any  one,  he  left  the  room  and  went  up  to  his  own 
chamber.  A  quarter  of  an  hour  later  the  old  count 
came  in  from  the  club,  gay  and  satisfied.  Nikolai',  find- 
ing that  he  had  come,  went  to  his  room. 

"Well,  have  you  been  having  a  pleasant  day.?"  asked 
Ilya  Andreyitch,  smiling  gayly  and  proudly  at  his  son. 
Nikolai  wanted  to  say  "yes,"  but  he  found  it  impossible  ; 
it  was  as  much  as  he  could  do  to  keep  from  bursting 
into  tears.  The  count  began  to  puff  at  his  pipe,  and 
did  not  perceive  his  son's  state  of  mind. 

"  Ekh  !  it  can't  be  avoided,"  said  Nikolai'  to  himself, 
for  the  first  and  last  time.  And  suddenly,  in  a  negli- 
gent tone  which  seemed  to  himself  utterly  shameful,  he 
said  to  his  father,  just  as  if  he  were  asking  for  the 
carriage  to  drive  down  town  :  — 

"  Papa,  I  came  to  speak  to  you  about  business.  I 
had  forgotten  all  about  it.     I  need  some  money." 

"  What 's  that  ?  "  said  the  father,  who  had  come  home 
in  a  peculiarly  good-natured  frame  of  mind.  "  I  told  you 
that  you  would  n't  have  enough.     Do  you  need  much  ?  " 

"  Ever  so  much,"  said  Nikolai',  reddening,  and  with  a 
stupid,  careless  smile  which  it  was  long  before  he  could 
pardon  himself  for.  "  I  have  been  losing  a  little ;  that 
is,  considerable  ;  I  might  say  a  great  deal  —  forty-three 
thousand  ....  " 

"What.?  To  whom.?  You  are  joking!"  cried  the 
count,  flushing,  just  as  elderly  men  are  apt  to  flush,  with 
an  apoplectic  rush  of  blood  coloring  his  neck  and  the 
back  of  his  head. 

"  I  promised  to  pay  it  to-morrow,"  continued  Nikolaif. 

"Well !"....  said  the  old  count,  spreading  his  hands 
and  falling  helplessly  back  upon  the  divan. 

"  What 's  to  be  done .?     It 's  what  might  happen  to  any 


WAR  AND    PEACE  221 

one!"  said  the  son.  in  a  free  and  easy  tone  of  barter 
while  all  the  time  in  his  heart  he  was  calling  himsel  a 
worthless  coward,  who  could  not  atone  by  ^'s  whole  We 
for  such  a  thing.  He  felt  an  impulse  to  kiss  his  f ather  s 
hands,  to  fall  on  his  knees  and  beg  his  forgiveness,  but 
still  he  assured  his  father  in  that  careless  and  even 
coarse  tone,  that  this  was  a  thmg  liable  to  happen  to 

^"co°unt'  Ilya  Andreyitch  dropped  his  eyes  when  he 
heard  his  son's  words'  and  fidgeted  about,  as  if  he  were 
trying  to  find  something.  1     t  ,,« 

''Yes  ves  "  he  murmured,  "it'll  be  hard  work,  I  am 
afraid  ...'.hard  work  to  raise  so  much ....  it  happens  to 
every  one,  yes,  yes,  it  happens  to  every  one. 

And  the  count,  with  a  swift  glance  at  his  son  s  face, 
started  to  leave  the  room.  ,     ,    j 

Nikolai-  was  prepared  for  a  refusal,  but  he  had  never 

'""^'Pte^a!  pd....penkar  ^e  cried,,  hastening  after 
him  wifh  a  sob,  "forgive  me!"  and,  seizing  his  fathers 
hand,  he  pressed  it  to  his  lips  and  burst  mto  tears. 

While  father  and  son  were  having  this  conversation, 
a  no-less-important  confession  was  taking  place  between 
the  mother  and  daughter.  Natasha,  m  great  excite- 
ment, had  run  in  where  her  mother  was.        __ 

"Mamma!....  mamma!....  He  has  done  it! 

"  Done  what  ? "  „  \ 

"  He  has  done  it !  He  has  made  me  an  offer ;  mamma! 

mamma!"  she  cried.  ^^     ,    r       j 

The  countess  did  not  believe  her  ears  Denisof  made 
a  proposal!  To  whom?  To  this  little  chit  of  a  Natasha, 
who  only  a  short  time  since  was  playmg  with  her  dolls, 
and  even  now  was  only  a  school-girl  ?  ,  „       . ,     ,  „ 

"Natasha!  Come  now!  No  nonsense!  said  she, 
still  hoping  that  it  was  a  joke.  ■     ,        -^ 

"Why  do  you  say  'nonsense'?  I  tell  you  ,ust  as  it 
is,"  said  Natasha,  indignantly.  "  I  came  to  ask  you 
what  I  should  do  about  it,  and  you  call  it  'nonsense 

The  countess  shrugged  her  shoulders.        If  it  is  true 


Z22 


WAR   AND    PEACE  | 


that  Moiisieiw  Denisof  has  made  you  an  offer,  then  tell 
him  that  he  is  a  fool,  and  that 's  all  there  is  of  it!  " 

"■  No,  he  is  not  a  fool,"  replied  Natasha,  in  a  grave 
and  offended  tone. 

'*  Well,  then,  what  do  you  wish  ?  It  seems  to  me  that 
these  days  all  of  you  are  falling  in  love.  Well,  if  you 
love  him,  then  marry  him,"  exclaimed  the  countess,  with 
an  angry  laugh.     *'  Good  luck  to  you  !  " 

"No,  mamma,  I  'm  not  in  love  with  him;  it  can't  be 
that  I  am!" 

''  Well,  then,  go  and  tell  him  so !  " 

"Mamma,  are  you  annoyed.'^  Don't  be  annoyed, 
sweetheart;^  now  wherein,  I  should  like  to  know,  was  I 
to  blame  1 " 

"  No,  but  what  do  you  wish,  my  dear  t  Shall  I  go 
and  tell  him  }  "  asked  the  countess,  smiling. 

"  Certainly  not,  I  will  answer  him  myself,  only  tell  me 
what  to  say.  Everything  comes  so  easy  to  you,"  she 
added,  with  an  answering  smile.  "And  if  you  had  only 
seen  how  he  said  it  to  me !  For,  do  you  know,  I  am 
sure  that  he  did  not  mean  to  say  it,  but  it  came  out 
accidentally." 

"  Well,  it  behooves  you,  at  all  events,  to  refuse 
him." 

"  No,  not  refuse  him  !  I  feel  so  sorry  for  him  I  He  is 
such  a  nice  man  !  " 

"  Well,  then,  accept  his  proposal.  Indeed,  it  is  time 
you  were  married,"  exclaimed  her  mother,  in  a  sharp, 
derisive  tone. 

"No,  mamma,  I  pity  him  so.  I  don't  know  how  to 
tell  him !  " 

"  Well,  then,  if  you  can't  find  anything  to  say,  I  my- 
self will  go  and  speak  with  him,"  said  the  countess, 
stirred  to  the  soul  that  any  one  should  dare  to  look  upon 
ner  little  Natasha  as  already  grown  up. 

"  No,  not  for  anything ;  I  will  tell  him  myself,  and 
you  may  listen  at  the  door,"  and  Natasha  started  to  run 
through  the  drawing-room  into  the  music-room,  where 
Denisof  was  still  sitting  on  the  same  chair  by  the  clavi- 

1  Calubushka. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  223 

chord  with  his  face  in"  his  hands.  He  sprang  up  the 
moment  he  heard  her  Hght  steps. 

"  NataUe,"  said  he,  going  toward  her  with  quick  steps, 
''decide  my  fate.      It  is  in  your  hands." 

"Vasih    Dmitritch,  I  am  so  sorry  for  you No! 

but  you  are  so  splendid But  it  cannot  be ....  it  is.... 

but  I  shall  always,  always  love  you." 

Denisof  bent  over  her  hand,  and  she  heard  strange 
sounds  which  she  could  not  understand.  She  kissed 
him  on  his  dark,  curly,  disordered  hair.  At  this  instant 
was  heard  the  hurried  rustle  of  the  countess's  gown. 
She  came  toward  them. 

"  Vasili  Dmitritch,  I  thank  you  for  the  honor,"  said 
the  countess,  in  a  troubled  tone  of  voice,  though  it 
seemed  to  Denisof  to  be  stern.  "But  my  daughter  is 
so  young,  and  I  should  have  thought  that  you,  as  a 
friend  of  my  son's,  would  have  addressed  me  first.  In 
that  case  you  might  not  have  forced  me  to  an  unavoid- 
able refusal." 

''Countess,"  said  Denisof,  with  downcast  eyes  and  a 
guilty  look,  and  vainly  trying  to  stammer  something 
more. 

Natasha  could  not  look  with  any  composure  upon  him, 
it  was  so  pitiable  to  see  him.     She  began  to  sob  aloud. 

"Countess,  I  have  done  w'ong,"  at  last  he  managed 
to  articulate,  in  a  broken  voice.  "  But  pway  believe  me, 
I  adore  your  daughter  and  all  your  family,  and  I  would 
gladly  sacwifice  my  life  twice  over  for  you."  He  looked 
up  at  the  countess,  and,  seeing  her  stern  face,  "Well, 
good-by,  countess,"  he  added,  and  kissing  her  hand  and 
not  even  looking  at  Natasha,  left  the  room  with  quick, 
resolute  steps. 

Rostof  spent  the  next  day  making  calls  with  Denisof, 
who  would  not  hear  to  staying  any  longer  in  Moscow. 
All  his  Moscow  friends  gave  him  a  send-off  at  the  gyp- 
sies', and  he  had  no  recollection  of  how  he  was  packed 
into  his  sledge,  or  how  he  rode  the  first  three  stages. 

After  Denisof's  departure,  Rostof  spent  a  fortnight 
longer  at  home,  waiting  for  the  monev  which  the  old 


224  WAR   AND    PEACE 

count  was  unable  to  raise  at  such  short  notice ;  he  did 
not  leave  the  house,  and  spent  most  of  the  time  with 
the  girls. 

Sonya  was  more  affectionate  and  devoted  to  him  than 
ever.  It  seemed  as  if  she  were  anxious  to  show  him 
that  his  gambling  losses  were  quite  an  exploit,  for  which 
she  could  only  love  him  the  more,  but  Nikolai  now  felt 
that  he  was  unworthy  of  her. 

He  filled  the  girls'  albums  with  verses  and  music,  and 
at  last,  toward  the  end  of  November,  after  paying  over 
the  forty-three  thousand  rubles,  and  receiving  Dolokhof 's 
receipt  for  it,  he  started  away  without  taking  leave  of 
any  of  his  acquaintances,  to  rejoin  his  regiment,  which 
was  now  in  Poland. 


PART    FIFTH 


CHAPTER   I 

AFTER  his  explanation  with  his  wife,  Pierre  went 
to  Petersburg.  At  the  post-station  at  Torzhok, 
there  were  no  horses,  or  the  station-master  was  un- 
willing to  furnish  them.  Pierre  was  obliged  to  wait. 
Without  undressing,  he  stretched  himself  out  on  the 
leather  divan  before  a  circular  table,  put  his  big  feet 
in  warm  boots  on  it,  and  pondered. 

**  Do  you  order  the  trunks  brought  in  ?  Shall  I  make 
up  a  bed  .?     Do  you  wish  tea  ?  "  asked  his  valet. 

Pierre  made  no  answer,  for  the  reason  that  he  heard 
nothing  and  saw  nothing.  He  had  begun  to  ponder 
while  at  the  last  station,  and  still  he  went  on,  propound- 
ing the  same  questions,  quite  too  important  for  him  to 
pay  any  attention  to  what  was  going  on  around  him. 
He  was  not  in  the  least  interested  whether  he  reached 
Petersburg  sooner  or  later,  or  whether  or  not  they  found 
him  a  place  to  sleep  that  night  at  the  station ;  every- 
thing indeed  was  immaterial  in  comparison  with  the 
thoughts  that  were  now  occupying  his  mind,  and  it 
made  no  difference  whether  he  spent  a  few  hours  or 
his  whole  life  at  this  station. 

The  station-master,  the  station-master's  wife,  his  valet, 
an  old  woman  Vv^ho  sold  Torzhok  embroidery,  came  into 
the  room  and  offered  their  services. 

Pierre,  not  changing  the  elevated  position  of  his  feet, 
looked  at  them  over  his  spectacles,  and  did  not  com- 
prehend what  they  could  want,  or  how  they  could  live 
without  having  decided  the  questions  which  were  troub- 
ling him.  He  had  indeed  been  occupied  by  the  same 
questions  perpetually  ever  since  that  day  when,  after 
VOL.  II.  — 15  225 


226  WAR   AND    PEACE 

his  duel,  he  had  returned  home  from  Sokolniki,  and 
spent  the  first  painful,  sleepless  night ;  but  now,  in  his 
solitary  journey,  they  took  possession  of  him  with  in- 
exorable force.  Whatever  he  began  to  think  about, 
still  his  mind  reverted  to  these  problems  which  he  could 
not  solve  and  could  not  help  asking  himself.  It  was 
as  if  the  principal  screw  on  which  his  whole  life  de- 
pended had  got  sprung.  The  screw  stays  where  it  is ; 
it  does  not  give  way,  but  it  turns  without  the  thread 
catching,  always  in  the  same  fillet,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  stop  turning  it. 

The  station-master  came  in  and  began  obsequiously  to 
ask  his  illustriousness  to  deign  to  wait  only  two  "  little 
hours,"  and  then  he  could  have  for  his  illustriousness, 
come  what  would,  post-horses  for  his  service.  The 
station-master  was  evidently  lying,  and  his  sole  idea  was 
to  get  as  much  money  as  possible  from  the  traveler. 

"  Is  this  right,  or  is  it  wrong,?"  Pierre  asked  himself. 
"  As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  it  is  good,  but  it  is  bad  for  the 
next  traveler;  but  the  station-master  can't  help  himself 
doing  so,  because  he  has  nothing  to  eat;  he  told  me 
that  some  officer  had  given  him  a  thrashing  because  of 
it.  But  perhaps  the  officer  thrashed  him  because  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  hasten  away.  And  I  shot  at 
Dolokhof  because  I  considered  myself  insulted,  and 
Louis  XVI.  was  beheaded  because  he  was  convicted  as 
a  criminal;  but  within  a  year  those  who  had  beheaded 
him  were  also  put  to  death  for  something  or  other. 
What  is  wrong.?  What  is  right.?  What  must  one  love  ? 
What  must  one  hate.?  What  is  the  object  of  life,  and 
what  am  I .?  What  is  life,  and  what  is  death  .?  What  is 
the  Power  that  directs  all  things .? "  he  asked  himself. 
And  there  was  no  answer  to  any  one  of  the  questions, 
except  the  one,  the  illogical  answer  which  did  not  in 
reality  fit  any  of  these  questions. 

This  answer  was  :  "  Thou  shalt  die  —  all  will  come  to 
an  end !  Thou  shalt  die  and  know  all,  or  else  cease  to 
question." 

But  the  mere  thought  of  death  was  terrible  to  him. 

The  Torzhok    peddler  woman,   in  her  piping  voice, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  227 

offered  her  wares,  and  called  especial  attention  to  her 
goatskin  slippers. 

*'  I  have  hundreds  of  rubles  which  I  don't  know  what 
to  do  with,  and  she  in  her  ragged  shuba  stands  there 
and  looks  at  me  timidly,"  thought  Pierre.  **  And  what 
good  would  this  money  do  her?  Would  this  money  of 
mine  add  the  value  of  a  single  hair  to  her  happiness,  to 
her  peace  of  mind  ?  Can  anything  on  earth  make  her 
or  me  in  the  least  degree  less  susceptible  to  evil  and 
death.?  Death,  which  ends  all,  and  which  may  come 
to-day  or  to-morrow;  everything  becomes  of  equally 
little  importance  in  comparison  with  eternity." 

And  once  more  he  tried  to  screw  up  the  screw  that 
would  not  hold,  and  the  screw,  as  before,  kept  turning 
around  in  the  selfsame  way. 

His  servant  brought  him  the  half-cut  volume  of  a 
romance,  in  the  form  of  letters  by  Madame  de  Souza. 
He  began  to  read  of  the  sufferings  and  virtuous  resist- 
ance of  the  heroine,  Amelie  de  Mansfeld.  "And  why 
did  she  resist  her  seducer  if  she  loved  him .?  "  he  asked 
himself.  *'  God  could  not  have  put  into  her  soul  a 
desire  which  was  contrary  to  His  will.  My  former  wife 
made  no  struggle,  and  maybe  she  was  right.  Nothing 
has  ever  been  discovered,  nothing  ever  invented,"  said 
Pierre  again  to  himself.  *'  The  only  thing  that  we  can 
know  is  that  we  know  nothing,  and  this  is  the  highest 
degree  of  human  wisdom  !  " 

Everything  within  him  and  around  him  seemed  con- 
fused, incoherent,  loathsome.  But,  nevertheless,  in  this 
very  loathing  of  everything,  Pierre  found  a  peculiar 
sense  of  exasperating  delight. 

"  May  I  venture  to  ask  your  illustriousness  to  make  a 
little  room  for  this  gentleman  here  ?  "  asked  the  station- 
master,  coming  into  the  room  and  introducing  another 
traveler,  delayed  also  by  the  lack  of  horses.  The  new- 
comer was  a  thick-set,  big-boned,  little  old  nian,  yellow 
and  wrinkled,  with  gray,  beetling  brows  which  shaded 
glittering  eyes  of  indefinable  grayish  hue. 

Pierre  took  his  feet  from  the  table,  got  up,  and  threw 
himself  down  on  the  bed  that  had  been  made  ready  for 


228  WAR   AND    PEACE 

him,  occasionally  glancing  at  the  stranger,  who,  with  an 
air  of  moroseness  and  fatigue,  without  paying  any  heed 
to  Pierre,  allowed  his  servant  to  help  him  lay  off  his 
wraps. 

The  old  man  sat  down  on  the  divan.  He  had  on  a 
well-worn,  nankeen-lined  sheepskin  jacket,  and  felt  boots 
on  his  thin,  bony  legs ;  his  head  was  large,  and  very 
broad  in  the  temples,  and  his  hair  was  closely  cropped. 
Sitting  thus,  and  leaning  back  against  the  sofa,  he 
glanced  at  Bezukhoi.  The  grave,  intelligent,  and  pene- 
trating expression  of  his  glance  struck  Pierre.  He  felt 
an  inclination  to  converse  with  the  stranger,  but  when 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  address  him  with  some 
question  about  the  state  of  the  roads,  the  old  man  had 
already  closed  his  eyes,  and  was  sitting  motionless,  with 
his  wrinkled  old  hands  folded,  —  on  one  finger  he  wore 
a  heavy,  cast-iron  ring  with  a  death's  head  for  a  seal,  — 
and  was  either  dozing,  or,  as  it  seemed  to  Pierre,  medi- 
tating calmly  and  profoundly. 

The  stranger's  servant  was  also  a  little  old  m.an,  all 
covered  with  wrinkles,  without  mustache  or  beard,  not 
because  they  had  been  shaven,  but  because  they  seemed 
never  to  have  grown.  This  agile  old  servant  opened 
the  traveling-case,  prepared  the  tea-table,  and  brought 
in  the  boiling  samovar.  When  all  was  ready,  the 
stranger  opened  his  eyes,  drew  up  to  the  table,  and, 
after  pouring  out  a  glass  of  tea  for  himself,  filled  an- 
other for  his  beardless  servant,  and  handed  it  to  him. 

Pierre  began  to  feel  uneasy ;  it  seemed  to  him  that 
it  was  unavoidable,  and  even  inevitable,  that  he  should 
enter  into  conversation  with  this  traveler. 

The  servant  brought  back  his  empty  glass,  turned 
bottom  side  up,  and  with  the  lump  of  sugar  untasted, 
and  asked  his  master  if  he  needed  anything. 

**  Nothing.  Hand  me  my  book,"  said  the  stranger. 
The  servant  handed  him  a  book  which  Pierre  took  to 
be  a  religious  work,  and  the  traveler  buried  himself 
in  his  reading.  Pierre  looked  at  him.  Suddenly,  the 
stranger  laid  down  his  book,  put  a  mark  in  it  and  closed 
it,  and,  again  shutting  his  eyes  and  leaning  back,  assumed 


WAR   AND    PEACE  229 

his  former  position.  Pierre  gazed  at  him,  but  he  had 
no  time  to  look  away  before  the  old  man  opened  his 
eyes  and  fastened  his  firm,  steady,  stern  gaze  directly 
on  Pierre's  face. 

Pierre  felt  confused,  and  anxious  to  escape  from  that 
searching  gaze,  but  the  brilHant  eyes  of  the  old  man 
irresistibly  attracted  him  to  them. 


CHAPTER   II 

"If  I  am  not  mistaken,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  ad- 
dressing Count  Bezukhoi,"  said  the  stranger,  in  a  loud 
and  deliberate  voice. 

Pierre,  without  speaking,  gave  his  neighbor  an  inquir- 
ing look  over  his  spectacles. 

^'I  have  heard  of  you,"  continued  the  traveler,  ''and 
of  the  misfortune  that  has  befallen  you,  my  dear  sir."^ 

He  seemed  to  lay  a  special  stress  on  the  word  *'  mis- 
fortune," as  much  as  to  say  :  '  Yes,  misfortune,  whatever 
you  may  call  it,  for  I  know  that  what  happened  to  you 
in  Moscow  was  a  misfortune.'  "  I  have  a  great  sympathy 
for  vou,  my  dear  sir." 

Pierre  flushed,  and,  hastily  putting  down  his  legs  from 
the  bed,  bent  toward  the  old  man,  smiling  with  a  timid 
and  unnatural  smile. 

''  Not  from  mere  curiosity  do  I  speak  to  you  of  this, 
my  dear  sir,  but  for  a  much  more  important  reason." 

He  paused,  though  his  eyes  were  still  fixed  on  Pierre, 
and  he  moved  along  on  the  divan,  signifying  by  this 
action  that  Pierre  should  sit  down  by  his  side. 

It  was  not  particularly  agreeable  for  Pierre  to  enter 
into  conversation  with  this  old  man,  but,  involuntarily 
submitting,  he  came  and  sat  down  by  his  side. 

''You  are  unhappy,  my  dear  sir,"  pursued  the  stranger. 
"  You  are  young,  I  am  old.  I  should  like,  as  far  as  in 
me  lies,  to  help  you." 

'*Akh !  yes !  "  replied  Pierre,  with  the  same  unnatu- 
ral  smile.  "  I  am  very  grateful  to  you.  Have  you  been 
traveling  far  ? " 


130  WAR    AND    PEACE 


''  Now,  if  for  any  reasop  it  is  disagreeable  for  you 
talk  with  me,"  said  the  old  man,  "  tell  me  frankly,  i 


The  stranger's  face  was  not  genial,  on  the  contrary^ 
it  was  even  cold  and  stern  ;  but,  nevertheless,  his  face 
and  his  speech  had  an  irresistible  attraction  for  Pierre. 

to 
niy 
dear  sir." 

And  he  suddenly  smiled,  an  unexpected,  a  paternally 
affectionate  smile. 

*'  Akh  !  no,  not  at  all ;  on  the  contrary,  I  am  very 
happy  to  make  your  acquaintance,"  said  Pierre,  and, 
glancing  once  more  at  his  new  acquaintance's  hand,  he 
looked  more  carefully  at  the  ring.  He  perceived  on  it 
the  death's  head,  the  symbol  of  Masonfy. 

"  Allow  me  to  ask,"  said  he,  "are  you  a  Mason  ? " 

"Yes,  I  belong  to  the  Brotherhood  of  the  Free- 
masons,"  said  the  traveler,  looking  deeper  and  ever 
deeper  into  Pierre's  eyes.  "And  on  my  own  account  and 
that  of  the  craft,  I  offer  you  the  hand  of  fellowship." 

"  I  fear,"  said  Pierre,  smiling,  and  hesitating  between 
the  confidence  inspired  in  him  by  the  Freemason's  per- 
sonality and  the  current  disapprobation  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  order...."!  fear  that  I  am  very  far  from  being 
able  to  express  myself ;  -I  fear  that  my  whole  system  of 
thought  in  regard  to  the  world  in  general  is  so  opposite 
to  yours,  that  we  should  not  understand  each  other." 

"  I  know  your  system  of  thought,"  replied  the  Free- 
mason, "  and  this  system  which  you  mention,  and  which 
seems  to  you  the  product  of  your  brain,  is  that  common 
to  most  men ;  it  is  uniformly  the  fruit  of  pride,  idleness, 
and  ignorance.  Excuse  me,  my  dear  sir ;  if  I  had  not 
known  this,  I  should  not  have  addressed  you.  Your 
system  of  thought  is  a  grievous  error." 

"  In  exactly  the  same  way,  I  can  imagine  that  it  is 
you  who  are  in  error,"  said  Pierre,  with  a  feeble  smile. 

"  I  never  venture  to  assert  that  I  know  the  truth," 
said  the  Mason,  impressing  Pierre  more  and  more  by  the 
precision  and  assurance  of  his  discourse.  "  No  one  can 
alone  attain  to  the  truth ;  it  must  be  stone  upon  stone, 
all  lending  their  aid,  millions  of  generations,  from  the 
first  Adam  even  down  to  our  day,  building  the  temple 


WAR   AND    PEACE  231 

which  is  destined  to  be  the  suitable  abiding-place  for 
the  Most  High  God,"  said  the  Mason,  and  he  shut  his 
eyes. 

"  I  must  tell  you,  I  do  not  believe  ....  do  not  believe  in 
God,"  said  Pierre,  with  an  effort,  and  a  sense  of  regret, 
but  feeling  it  indispensable  to  confess  the  whole  truth. 

The  Mason  looked  earnestly  at  Pierre  and  smiled, 
much  as  a  rich  man  who  had  millions  in  his  hands 
might  smile  upon  a  poor  man  who  should  tell  him  that 
he  had  nothing  and  that  five  rubles  would  make  him 
the  happiest  of  men. 

"Yes,  you  do  not  know  Him,  my  dear  sir,"  said  the 
Mason.  "You  cannot  know  Him  —  you  cannot  know 
Him ;  therefore,  you  are  unhappy." 

"Yes,  yes,  I  am  unhappy,"  repeated  Pierre.  "But 
what  am  I  to  do  .^^  " 

"  You  do  not  know  Him,  my  dear  sir,  and  therefore 
you  are  very  unhappy.  You  do  not  know  Him,  but  He 
is  here;  He  is  in  me,  He  is  in  my  words;  He  is  in  thee, 
and  even  in  those  blasphemous  words  that  thou  hast 
just  uttered,"  said  the  Mason,  in  his  stern,  vibrating 
voice. 

He  paused  and  sighed,  evidently  trying  to  master  his 
emotion. 

"  If  He  did  not  exist,"  said  he,  gently,  "  you  and  I 
would  not  be  speaking  about  Him,  my  dear  sir.  Of 
what,  of  whom,  have  we  been  speaking  ?  Whom  didst 
thou  deny .? "  he  suddenly  asked,  with  a  tone  of  enrap- 
tured sternness  and  power  in  his  voice.  "  Who  would 
have  invented  Him,  if  He  did  not  exist }  How  camest 
thou  to  have  the  hypothesis  that  such  an  incomprehensi- 
ble being  exists  ?  How  came  you  and  all  the  world  to 
suppose  the  existence  of  an  incomprehensible  being,  — 
a  being  omnipotent,  eternal,  and  infinite  in  all  His 
attributes .?" 

He  paused,  and  remained  silent  for  some  time. 

Pierre  could  not  and  would  not  break  in  upon  his 
silence. 

"He  is,  but  it  is  hard  to  comprehend  Him,"  said  the 
Mason  at  last,  looking  not  into  Pierre's  face,  but  straight 


232  WAR   AND    PEACE 

ahead,  while  his  aged-looking;  hands,  which  he  could  r\( 
keep  quiet,  owing  to  his  internal  excitement,  kept  turn- 
ing over  the  leaves  of  his  book. 

"  If  it  were  a  man  whose  existence  thou  disbelieved,  1 
could  bring  this  man  to  thee,  I  would  take  him  by  the 
hand  and  show  him  to  thee.  But  how  can  I,  an  insig- 
nificant mortal,  show  all  His  omnipotence,  all  His  in- 
finity, all  His  goodness  to  him  who  is  blind,  or  to  him 
who  shuts  his  eyes,  in  order  not  to  see,  not  to  compre- 
hend Him,  and  not  to  see  and  not  to  comprehend  all  his 
own  vileness  and  depravity  ?  " 

He  paused  again. 

"  Who  art  thou }  What  art  thou  }  Thou  imaginest 
that  thou  art  heroic  because  thou  canst  utter  those  blas- 
phemous words,"  said  he,  with  a  saturnine  and  scornful 
laugh.  "  And  thou  art  stupider  and  less  intelligent  than 
a  little  child,  which,  playing  with  the  artistically  con- 
structed parts  of  a  clock,  should  dare  to  say  that  because 
it  did  not  understand  the  clock,  it  did  not  believe  in  the 
artificer  who  made  it.  To  comprehend  Him  is  hard. 
For  ages,  since  our  first  ancestor  Adam  even  down  to 
our  own  days,  we  have  been  striving  to  comprehend 
Him,  and  we  are  still  infinitely  far  from  the  attainment 
of  our  purpose  ;  but,  while  v/e  cannot  comprehend  Him, 
we  see  only  our  feebleness  and  His  majesty." 

Pierre,  with  agitated  heart  and  burning  eyes,  looked 
at  the  Mason,  listening  to  his  words,  not  interrupting 
him  or  asking  him  any  questions ;  but  with  all  his  soul 
he  believed  in  what  this  strange  man  told  him."  Whether 
it  was  that  he  was  convinced  by  the  reasonable  argu- 
ments that  the  Mason  employed,  or  was  persuaded,  as 
children  are.  by  the  conviction,  by  the  sincerity  expressed 
by  the  Mason's  intonations,  by  the  trembling  voice  which 
sometimes  almost  failed  him,  or  by  the  brilliant  eyes 
hat  had  grown  old  in  this  conviction,  or  by  that  calm- 
ness, security,  and  belief  in  his  own  mission,  which 
radiated  from  his  whole  being,  and  which  especially  im- 
pressed him  when  he  compared  it  with  his  own  looseness 
of  belief  and  hopelessness,  —  he  could  not  tell ;  at  a!) 
events,  he  desired  with  all  his  soui  to  believe,  and  he 


WAR   AND    PEACE  233 

did  believe,  and  experienced  a  joyous  sense  of  calmness, 
regeneration,  and  restoration  to  life. 

"  It  is  not  by  the  intellect  that  He  is  comprehended, 
hut  by  life,"  said  the  Mason. 

"  I  do  not  understand,"  said  Pierre,  finding  with  dread 
his  doubts  arising  in  him  again.  He  was  afraid  lest  he 
might  detect  some  weakness  and  lack  of  clearness  in  his 
new  friend's  arguments;  he  was  afraid  not  to  believe 
in  him.  '*  I  do  not  understand,"  said  he,  "  how  the 
human  mind  can  attain  that  knowledge  of  which  you 
speak." 

The  Mason  smiled  his  sweet,  paternal  smile. 

'*  The  highest  wisdom  and  truth  is  like  the  purest 
ichor,  which  we  should  wish  to  receive  into  our  very 
selves,"  said  he.  "  Can  I,  an  unclean  vessel,  accept 
this  pure  ichor  and  judge  of  its  purity?  Only  through 
the  cleansing  of  my  inner  nature  can  I,  to  a  certain 
extent,  receive  this  baptismal  consecration." 

"Yes,  yes,  that  is  so,"  said  Pierre,  joyfully. 

"The  highest  wisdom  is  established,  not  on  reason 
alone,  not  on  those  worldly  sciences,  physics,  history, 
chemistry,  and  the  like,  on  which  intellectual  knowledge 
stumbles.  The  highest  wisdom  is  one.  The  highest 
wisdom  has  one  science,  the  science  of  the  All,  the 
universal  science  which  explains  all  creation,  and  the 
place  which  man  occupies  in  it.  In  order  to  absorb 
this  science,  it  is  absolutely  essential  to  purify  and  ren- 
ovate the  inner  man,  and,  therefore,  before  one  can 
know  it  one  must  believe  and  accomplish  perfection. 
And  to  attain  this  end,  our  souls  must  be  filled  with  that 
divine  light  which  is  called  conscience." 

"Yes,  yes,"  cried  Pierre. 

"  Look  with  the  eyes  of  your  spirit  at  your  inner 
man,  and  then  ask  yourself  if  you  are  content  with  your 
life.  What  do  you  attain  when  you  put  yourself  under 
the  guidance  of  the  intellect  alone  ?  What  are  you  ? 
You  are  young,  you  are  intelligent,  and  educated,  my 
dear  sir.  What  have  you  been  doing  with  all  those 
blessings  chat  have  been  put  into  your  hands  ?  Are  you 
content  with  yourself  and  your  life  ?  " 


234  WAR   AND    PEACE 

*'  No,  I  detest  my  life,"  exclaimed  Pierre,  with  a 
scowl. 

"  If  you  detest  it,  then  change  it,  undergo  self-purifi- 
cation, and  in  accordance  as  you  accomplish  it,  you  will 
learn  wisdom.  Examine  into  your  life,  my  dear  sir. 
What  sort  of  a  life  have  you  been  leading  ?  Wild  revels 
and  debauchery  !  Receiving  everything  from  society, 
and  giving  nothing  in  return.  You  have  become  the 
possessor  of  wealth,  —  how  have  you  been  employing 
it  ?  What  have  you  been  doing  for  your  neighbor  ? 
Have  you  had  a  thought  for  your  tens  of  thousands  of 
slaves  ?  Have  you  helped  them,  physically  or  morally  } 
No !  You  have  taken  advantage  of  their  labor  to  lead 
a  dissipated  life.  That  is  what  you  have  been  doing ! 
Have  you  chosen  a  life-work  which  might  enable  you  to 
be  of  help  to  your  neighbor?  No!  You  have  been 
spending  your  life  in  idleness.  Then,  my  dear  sir,  you 
got  married ;  you  assumed  responsibilities  for  the  guid- 
ance of  a  young  woman,  and  how  have  you  carried 
them  out  ?  You  have  not  aided  her,  my  dear  sir,  to  find 
the  path  of  truth,  but  you  have  hurled  her  into  the 
abyss  of  falsehood  and  wretchedness.  A  man  insulted 
you,  and  you  fought  with  him,  and  you  say  that  you  do 
not  know  God,  and  that  you  detest  your  life.  There  is 
no  wisdom  in  that,  my  dear  sir !  " 

After  saying  these  words,  the  Mason,  as  if  wearied 
by  this  long  speech,  again  leaned  against  the  back  of  the 
sofa,  and  closed  his  eyes.  Pierre  looked  at  the  stern, 
impassive,  almost  deathly  face  of  the  old  man,  and  moved 
his  lips  without  making  any  noise.  He  wanted  to  say, 
— '  Yes,  my  life  is  shameful,  idle,  dissipated,'  but  he  did 
not  dare  to  break  the  silence. 

The  Freemason  coughed,  a  hoarse,  decrepit  cough, 
and  summoned  his  servant. 

"  How  about  the  horses  .?  "  he  asked,  without  looking 
at  Pierre. 

"Those  that  were  ordered  have  been  brought,"  re- 
plied  the  servant.     "  Do  you  not  wish  to  rest  ?  " 

"No,  have  them  harnessed." 

"  Can  it  be  that  he  is  going  to  leave  me  here  alone, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  235 

and  not  tell  me  all,  and  not  promise  me  help  ?  "  wondered 
Pierre,  getting  up,  and  beginning  to  pace  up  and  down 
the  room,  with  bowed  head,  though  he  occasionally 
glanced  at  the  Mason. 

"  Yes,  I  had  never  thought  about  it  before,  I  lead  a 
contemptible,  depraved  life,  but  I  do  not  love  it,  and  I 
have  no  desire  to  continue  it,"  thought  Pierre.  |' And 
this  man  knows  the  truth,  and  if  he  had  the  desire  he 
might  enlighten  me." 

Pierre  wished,  but  he  had  not  the  courage,  to  say  this 
to  the  Mason.  The  traveler,  gathering  up  his  effects 
with  his  skilful,  aged  hands,  began  to  button  up  his 
sheepskin  coat.  Having  accomplished  these  tasks,  he 
turned  to  Bezukhoi,  and  said  to  him  in  a  polite,  indiffer- 
ent tone  :  — 

*'  Where  are  you  going  now,  my  dear  sir  ?  " 
''I? ....  I  am  going  to  Petersburg,"  replied  Pierre,  in  a 
childish,  irresolute  voice.  **  I  am  grateful  to  you.^  I 
agree  with  what  you  have  said.  But  pray  do  not  think 
that  I  am  all  bad !  I  wish  with  all  my  soul  that  I  were 
what  you  wish  that  I  was  —  but  I  have  never  found  any 
help  to  become  such ....  however,  I  am,  above  all,  to 
blame  for  my  faults.  Help  me!  teach  me,  and  maybe 
I  might...." 

Pierre  could  not  speak  further.  There  was  a  strange 
sound  in  his  nose,  and  he  turned  away. 

The  Mason  did  not  speak  for  some  time,  evidently 
lost  in  thought. 

''  Help  is  given  only  from  God,"  said  he.  "  But  that 
measure  of  help  which  it  is  within  the  power  of  our 
craft  to  give  you,  it  will  be  glad  to  give,  my  dear  sir. 
When  you  reach  Petersburg,  give  this  to  Count  Vil- 
larski." 

He  took  out  a  pocket-book,  and,  on  a  large  sheet  of 
paper,  folded  twice,  he  wrote  a  few  words. 

"Allow  me  to  give  you  one  piece  of  advice.  When 
you  reach  the  capital,  consecrate  your  first  hours  to  soli- 
tude, to  self-examination,  and  do  not  again  enter  into 
your  former  paths  of  life.  And  now  I  wish  you  a 
happy  journey,  my  dear  sir,"  said  he,  perceiving  that 


236  WAR   AND    PEACE 

his    servant    had    entered    the    room,    *' and    all    sue- 


cess. 


The  traveler  was  Osip  Alekseyevitch  Bazdeyef,  as 
Pierre  discovered  by  the  station-master's  record  book 
Bazdeyef  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Freemasons 
and  Martinists  since  the  time  of  Novikof.  Pierre,  after 
his  departure,  without  lying  down  to  sleep,  or  asking  for 
horses,  long  paced  up  and  down  the  room  of  the  station- 
house,  thinking  over  his  vicious  way  of  living,  and,  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  regeneration,  imagining  to  himself 
the  blessed,  irreproachable,  and  beneficent  future  which 
now  seemed  to  him  so  easy.  He  was,  so  it  seemed  to 
him,  wicked  only  because  he  had,  as  it  were,  forgotten 
how  good  it  was  to  be  righteous.  Not  a  trace  of  his 
former  doubts  remained  in  his  mind.  He  had  a  firm 
faith  in  the  possibility  of  a  brotherhood  of  men,  united 
m  one  common  aim  of  keeping  one  another  in  the  path 
of  righteousness,  and  such  a  brotherhood  Masonry  now 
seemed  to  him  to  be. 


CHAPTER   III 

On  reaching  Petersburg,  Pierre  informed  no  one  of 
his  presence,  went  nowhere,  and  spent  whole  days  in 
reading  Thomas  a  Kempis,  which  some  one  —  he  knew 
not  whom  — had  sent  him.  One  thing,  and  only  one 
thing,  Pierre  understood  in  reading  that  book  :  that  was 
the  hitherto  unknown  delight  in  believing  in  the  possi- 
bility of  attaining  perfection,  and  in  the  possibility  of 
active  brotherly  love  among  men,  which  Osip  Alekseye- 
vitch had  revealed  to  him. 

Within  a  week  after  his  return,  the  young  Polish 
Count  Villarski,  whom  Pierre  had  known  slightly  in 
Petersburg  society,  came  one  evening  into  his  room  with 
the  same  sort  of  official  and  solemn  air  with  which 
Dolokhof's  second  had  approached  him;  closing  the 
door  behind  him,  and  assuring  himself  that  no  one  ex- 
cept Pierre  was  in  the  room,  he  thus  addressed  him  :  — 

"  I  have  come  to  you,  count,  for  the  purpose  of  lay- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  237 

ing  a  proposition  before  you,"  said  he,  not  sitting  down. 
"  An  individual  of  very  high  degree  in  our  brotherhood 
has  interested  himself  in  having  you  admitted  out  of  due 
course,  and  has  proposed  that  I  should  be  your  sponsor. 
I  consider  it  as  a  sacred  duty  to  fulfil  this  person's 
desires.  Do  you  wish  to  join  the  brotherhood  of  Free- 
masons under  my  sponsorship.?" 

Pierre  was  amazed  at  the  cold  and  severe  tone  of  this 
man,  whom  he  had  seen  almost  always  at  balls,  with  a 
gallant  smile,  in  the  society  of  the  most  brilliant  ladies. 
"Yes,"  said  Pierre,  "  I  do  wish  it." 
Villarski  inclined  his  head. 

"Still  one  further  question,  count,"  said  he,  "which 
I  will  beg  of  you  to  answer  with  all  frankness,  not  as 
a  future  Mason,  but  as  a  man  of  honor  {iin^  galant 
honime)'.  Have  you  renounced  your  former  convictions? 
Do  you  believe  in  a  God.?  " 
Pierre  hesitated. 

"Yes....  yes,  I  believe  in  a  God,"  said  he. 
"In  that  case...."   began  Villarski,  but  Pierre  inter- 
rupted  him. 

"Yes,  I  believe  in  God,"  said  he  once  more. 
"  In  that  case,  we  may  start,  then,"  said  Villarski. 
"My  carriage  is  at  your  service." 

Villarski  sat  in  silence  all  the  way.  To  Pierre's  ques- 
tions as  to  what  he  had  to  do,  and  how  he  must  answer, 
Villarski  contented  himself  with  replying  that  brethren 
mere  suitable  than  himself  would  examine  him,  and  that 
all  that  it  behooved  Pierre  to  do  was  to  speak  the  truth. 
Entering  the  courtyard  of  a  large  mansion,  where  the 
lodge  met,  and  passing  up  a  dark  staircase,  they  came 
into  a  small,  brightly  lighted  anteroom,  where  they 
removed  their  shubas  without  the  aid  of  servants. 
Through  an  entry  they  passed  into  another  room.  Here 
a  man  in  a  strange  garb  made  his  appearance  at  the 
door.  Villarski,  going  forward  to  meet  him,  said  some- 
thing to  him  in  French,  in  an  undertone,  and  went  to 
a  sniall  wardrobe,  in  which  Pierre  observed  trappings 
such  as  he  had  never  seen  before.  Taking  from  the 
wardrobe    a   handkerchief,   Villarski   bound   it   around 


■ijS  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Pierre's  eyes  and  tied  a  knot  behind  in  such  a  wa^ 
that  his  hair  was  caught  in  it  and  hurt  him.  Then  he 
drew  him  to  himself,  kissed  him,  and  taking  him  by  the 
hand  led  him  he  knew  not  where.  The  hair  caught  in 
the  knot  hurt  Pierre;  he  scowled  with  the  pain,  and 
smiled  shamefacedly.  His  burly  figure,  with  bandaged 
eyes,  with  swinging  arms,  with  face  both  frowning  and 
smiling,  followed  Villarski  with  timid  steps. 

After  leading  him  half  a  score  of  paces,  Villarski 
paused. 

"Whatever  happens  to  you,"  said  he,  "you  must  cour- 
ageously  endure  it  all,  if  you  are  firmly  resolved  to  enter 
our  brotherhood."  ■ 

Pierre  nodded  assent. 

"  When  you  hear  a  rap  on  the  door  you  can  take  oft 
the  handkerchief,"  added  Villarski.  "  I  wish  you  ^ood 
courage  and  success." 

And  pressing  Pierre's  hand,  Villarski  went  away. 
Left  alone,  Pierre  still  continued  to  smile  as  before 
Twice  he  shrugged  his  shoulders,  raised  his  hand  to 
the  handkerchief,  as  if  inclined  to  remove  it,  and  again 
let  It  fall.  The  five  minutes  which  he  spent  with 
bandaged  eyes  seemed  to  him  like  an  hour.  His  hands 
swelled,  his  legs  trembled;  he  had  the  sensation  of 
being  tired.  He  had  the  most  complex  and  varied  feel- 
ings. What  was  going  to  happen  to  him  seemed  to 
him  terrible,  and  he  was  still  more  afraid  that  he  should 
show  his  fear.  He  was  filled  with  curiosity  to  know 
what  was  going  to  take  place,  what  was  going  to  be 
revealed  to  him;  but;  above  all,  it  was  delightful  for 
him  to  think  that  the  moment  had  come  when  he  had 
definitely  entered  upon  the  path  of  regeneration,  and  of 
ap  active,  beneficent  life,  of  which  he  had  dreamed  ever 
since  his  meeting  with  Osip  Alekseyevitch. 

Loud  raps  were  heard  at  the  door.  Pierre  took  off 
the  bandage  and  looked  around  him. 

It  was  intensely  dark  in  the  room,  only  in  one  place 
burned  a  lampada,  or  shrine  lamp,  within  some  white 
object.  Pierre  went  nearer,  and  saw  that  the  lamp 
stood  on  a  table  covered  with  a  black  cloth,  on  which 


WAR   AND    PEACE  239 

lay  a  single  opened  book.  The  book  was  a  copy  of  the 
Gospels;  the  white  object,  in  which  burned  the  lamp, 
was  a  human  skull,  with  its  eye  sockets  and  teeth. 
Reading  the  first  words  of  the  Gospel:  *' In  the  begin- 
ning was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God." 
Pierre  went  around  the  table,  and  saw  a  large  box  filled 
with  som.ething  and  covered.  This  was  a  coffin  with 
bones  in  it.  He  was  not  at  all  surprised  at  what  he  saw. 
In  his  hope  of  entering  upon  a  wholly  new  life,  abso- 
lutely removed  from  the  old  one,  he  expected  all  sorts 
of  extraordinary  things,  indeed  much  more  extraordi- 
nary than  what  he  had  already  seen^.  The  skull,  the 
coffin,  the  Gospel  —  it  seemed  to  him  that  all  this  was 
what  he  had  expected;  he  expected  something  more. 
While  trying  to  stimulate  a  sense  of  emotion,  he  looked 
around  him:  "God,  death,  love,  human  fraternity,"  he 
said  to  himself,  connecting  with  these  words  confused 
but  pleasing  conceptions. 

A  door  opened,  and  some  one  entered. 

By  the  feeble  light  Pierre  could  just  manage  to  make 
out  that  it  was  a  short  man.  Coming  from  light  into 
darkness,  this  man  paused  a  moment,  then,  with  cautious 
steps,  he  approached  the  table  and  placed  on  it  his 
small  hands  covered  with  leather  gloves. 
•  The  short  man  wore  a  white  leathern  apron  covering 
his  chest  and  a  part  of  his  legs ;  around  his  neck  was 
something  like  a  necklace,  and  above  the  necklace  arose 
a  high,  white  frill,  serving  as  a  sort  of  frame  for  his 
elongated  face,  Hghted  from  below. 

'*  Why  have  you  come  hither  ? "  asked  the  new  man, 
approaching  Pierre,  who  had  made  a  slight  noise. 
"Wherefore  do  you,  who  believe  not  in  the  truth  of 
light,  and  have  never  seen  the  light,  wherefore  have 
you  come  hither  ?  What  do  you  desire  of  us  ?  Wisdom  ? 
virtue  ?  enlightenment  ?  " 

The  moment  the  door  opened  and  the  unknown  man 
entered,  Pierre  experienced  a  sense  of  awe  and  rever- 
ence similar  to  that  which  he  had  felt  in  his  childhood 
9t  confession ;  he  felt  that  he  was  face  to  face  with  a 
^uman  being  who,  under  all  the  conditions  of  ordinary 


240  WAR   AND    PEACE 

life,  was  a  stranger,  but  was  near  to  him  through  the 
brotherhood  of  man.  Pierre,  with  his  heart  beating  so 
that  he  could  hardly  breathe,  went  toward  the  Rhetor, 
as  the  Masons  call  the  brother  whose  duty  it  is  to  pre- 
pare the  candidate  for  admission  into  the  confraternity. 
Pierre,  as  he  came  nearer,  recognized  the  Rhetor  as  an 
acquaintance  of  his,  named  Smolyaninof ;  it  was  a  dis- 
appointment to  think  that  this  man  was  an  acquaintance: 
the  newcomer  was  merely  a  brother  and  instructor  in 
virtue.  It  was  some  time  before  Pierre  could  find  a 
word  to  say ;  so  that  the  Rhetor  was  obliged  to  repeat 
his  question. 

"Yes,  I....  I....  I  seek  regeneration,"  said  Pierre, 
speaking  with  difficulty. 

"  Good,"  said  Smolyaninof,  and  immediately  pro- 
ceeded :  — 

"  Have  you  any  idea  of  the  means  by  which  our  holy 
fraternity  can  aid  you  to  the  attainment  of  your  de- 
sires ?  "  asked  the  Rhetor,  calmly  and  rapidly. 

"  I ....  hope  for ....  guidance  ....  for  help  ....  toward ....  re- 
generation," said  Pierre,  with  a  trembling  voice,  and 
finding  a  difficulty  in  speaking  which  arose  from  his 
emotion  as  well  as  from  his  lack  of  practice  in  speaking 
in  Russian  on  abstract  themes. 

"  What  knowledge  have  you  of  Freemasonry  ?  '* 
"  I  suppose  that  Freemasonry  is  fraternity  and  equal- 
ity of  all  men  who  have  virtuous  aims,"  said  Pierre,  with 
a  feeling  of  shame  overwhelming  him  at  the  unfitness 
of  his  words  at  such  a  solemn  moment.  **  I  suppose  ...." 
"Good,"  said  the  Rhetor,  in  haste,  evidently  perfectly 
satisfied  with  this  reply.  "  Have  you  found  in  religion 
means  for  the  attainment  of  these  ends  ? " 

"  No,  I  have  considered  religion  opposed  to  truth,  and 
I  have  spurned  it,"  said  Pierre,  so  low  that  the  Rhetor 
did  not  hear  him  and  asked  him  what  he  said.  "  I  have 
been  an  atheist,"  replied  Pierre. 

"You  seek  after  truth  for  the  purpose  of  following 
her  laws  through  life  ;  consequently,  you  seek  wisdom 
and  virtue,  do  you  ?  "  asked  the  Rhetor,  after  a  moment's 
silence. 

"Yes,  yes,"  insisted  Pierre. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  241 

The  Rhetor  coughed,  folded  his  gloved  hands  on  his 
chest,  and  began  to  discourse  :  —  .  r     u- 

"  It  is  now  my  duty  to  unfold  to  you  the  chief  object 
of  our  craft,"  said  he.  "And  if  this  object  coincides 
with  yours,  then  you  will  find  it  an  advantage  to  join 
our  fraternity.  The  first  and  principal  aim,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  foundation  of  our  confraternity,  on  which 
it  stands  firm,  and  which  no  human  violence  can  shake, 
is  the  conservation  and  handing  down  to  posterity  of  a 
certain  important  mystery,  which  has  been  handed  down 
to  us  from  the  remotest  antiquity,  even  from  the  first 
man,  from  which  mystery  perhaps  depends  the  destiny 
of  the  human  race.  But  as  this  mystery  has  the  pecu- 
liarity that  no  one  can  know  it  and  get  advantage  from 
it  except  through  a  long  and  assiduous  course  of  self- 
purification,  therefore  not  every  one  can  hope  speedily 
to  discover  it.  Consequently,  we  have  a  secondary  aim 
and  object,  which  consists  in  preparing  our  fellow-mem- 
bers, as  far  as  in  us  lies,  to  correct  their  hearts,  to  purify 
and  enlighten  their  reason,  by  those  means  which  have 
been  handed  down  to  us  by  tradition  .from  those  men 
who  labored  for  the  investigation  of  those  mysteries, 
and  thereby  to  teach  them  to  be  qualified  for  the  recep- 
tion of  one. 

"  By  purifying  and  rectifying  our  own  members,  we 
endeavor,  in  the  third  place,  to  correct  also  the  whole 
human  race,  presenting  in  our  own  members  an  example 
of  honor  and  virtue,  and  therefore  we  endeavor,  by  all 
means  in  our  power,  to  counteract  the  evil  that  rules  in 
the  world.  Think  this  over,  and  I  will  come  to  you 
again,"  said  he,  and  he  left  the  room. 

"To  counteract  the  evil  that  rules  in  the  world,'  re- 
peated Pierre,  and  he  imagined  his  future  activity  in 
this  great  field. 

He  imagined  such  men  as  he  himself  had  been  a  fort* 
night  before,  and  his  thoughts  turned  to  the  initiatory 
discourse  that  he  had  just  heard.  He  called  to  mind 
the  wicked  and  wretched  men  whom  he  should  help  by 
word  or  deed ;  he  imagined  the  oppressors  from  whom 
he  rescued  their  victims. 

VOL.  II. — 16 


242  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Of  the  three  objects  which  the  Rhetor  enumerated, 
the  last,  the  improvement  of  the  human  race,  was  the 
one  that  most  appealed  to  Pierre.  The  important  mys- 
tery of  which  the  Rhetor  spoke,  although  it  aroused  his 
curiosity,  did  not  seem  to  him  to  be  a  reality ;  but  the 
second,  self-purification  and  regeneration,  interested  him 
very  little,  because  at  that  moment  he  felt  that  he  was 
already  perfectly  freed  from  his  former  vices,  and  ready 
only  for  what  was  right. 

Within  half  an  hour  the  Rhetor  returned  to  instruct 
the  candidate  in  the  seven  virtues,  symbolized  by  the 
seven  steps  of  Solomon's  temple,  which  every  Mason 
must  make  his  especial  practice.  These  virtues  were 
as  follows :  — 

1.  Modesty,  the    observation  of   the    secrets   of   the 

order. 

2.  Obedience  to  the  higher  degrees  of  the  fraternity. 

3.  Good  temper. 

4.  Love  for  mankind. 

5.  Courage. 

6.  Generosity. 

7.  Love  of  death. 

''Apply  yourself  to  the  seventh,"  said  the  Rhetor. 
"  By  frequent  thoughts  of  Death,  bring  yourself  to  feel 
that  he  is  no  more  a  terrible  enemy,  but  a  friend  who 
frees  the  soul,  wearied  by  works  of  beneficence,  from 
the  wretchedness  of  this  life,  and  leads  it  into  the  place 
of  rewards  and  rest." 

"Yes,  this  ought  to  be  so,"  thought  Pierre,  when  the 
Rhetor,  after  delivering  himself  of  this  message,  again 
retired,  leaving  him  to  solitary  reflection.  "  This  ought 
to  be  so,  but  I  am  still  so  feeble  as  to  love  my  life,  the 
meaning  of  which  has  only  just  been,  to  some  small 
degree,  revealed  to  me." 

The  other  five  virtues,  however,  which  Pierre  counted 
off  on  his  fingers,  he  felt  were  already  in  his  soul :  cour- 
age and  generosity,  good  temper  and  love  for  mankind, 
and  especially  obedience,  which  last  seemed  less  to  him 
a  vinue  than  a  pleasure,  so  glad  was  he  now  to  be  freed 
frcym  the  exercise  of  his  own  will,  and  to  subordinate  it 


WAR   AND    PEACE  243 

to  those  who  knew  the  indubitable  truth.  The  seventh 
virtue  Pierre  had  forgotten;  he  could  not  remember 
what  it  was  at  all. 

For  the  third  time  the  Rhetor  returned,  this  time 
more  promptly  than  before,  and  asked  Pierre  if  he  were 
still  firm  in  his  convictions,  and  were  resolved  to  undergo 
all  that  might  be  required  of  him. 

"  I  am  ready  for  anything,"  said  Pierre. 

"  I  must  still  further  apprise  you,*'  said  the  Rhetor, 
"  that  our  order  does  not  instruct  by  words  alone,  but 
by  other  arguments  which  have  perhaps  a  more  power- 
ful effect  on  the  earnest  seeker  after  wisdom  and  virtue 
than  merely  verbal  ones.  This  chamber,  with  its  orna- 
mentation which  you  see,  must  have  already  made  this 
plain  to  your  heart,  if  it  is  sincere,  more  than  any  words 
could  have  done.  You  will  see,  probably,  during  your 
further  advancement,  similar  modes  of  symbolism.  Our 
order  takes  pattern  after  ancient  societies,  which  con- 
cealed their  teachings  under  the  guise  of  hieroglyphics. 
A  hieroglyphic,"  explained  the  Rhetor,  **  is  a  name  of 
something  symbolizing  an  abstract  idea,  and  possessing 
in  itself  qualities  similar  to  those  possessed  by  the  idea 
symbolized." 

Pierre  knew  very  well  what  a  hieroglyphic  was,  but  he 
did  not  venture  to  speak.  He  silently  listened  to  the 
Rhetor,  under  the  conviction  that  some  sort  of  test  was 
immediately  to  begin. 

"  If  you  are  resolved,  then  it  is  my  duty  to  proceed  to 
the  initiation,"  said  the  Rhetor,  coming  closer  to  Pierre. 
"  As  a  sign  of  your  generosity,  I  shall  ask  you  to  give 
me  everything  of  value  that  you  have." 

"  But  I  have  nothing  with  me,"  said  Pierre,  suppos- 
ing that  he  was  to  be  required  to  make  over  all  that  he 
possessed. 

"  Well,  what  you  have  on  you :  your  v/atch,  money, 
rings....  " 

Pierre  hastily  took  out  his  pocket-book,  his  watch,  and 
struggled  for  some  time  to  remove  his  wedding-ring 
from  his  stout  finger.  When  this  was  accomplished, 
the  Mason  said :  — 


244  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  As  a  sign  of  obedience,  I  will  ask  you  to  strip.*' 

Pierre  took  off  his  coat,  waistcoat,  and  left  boot,  at 
the  Rhetor's  direction.  The  Mason  opened  the  shirt 
over  his  left  breast,  and,  bending  over,  lifted  his  trousers 
above  the  knee  of  his  left  leg.  Pierre  hastily  began  to 
take  off  his  right  boot  also,  and  to  tuck  up  his  trousers, 
so  as  to  save  this  stranger  the  trouble,  but  the  Mason 
assured  him  that  this  was  unnecessary,  and  gave  him  a 
slipper  for  his  left  foot.  With  a  childlike  smile  of  shame, 
doubt,  and  derision  at  his  own  awkwardness  involuntarily 
crossing  his  face,  Pierre  stood  up,  dropping  his  arms  and 
spreading  his  legs,  and  faced  the  Rhetor,  waiting  his  next 
commands. 

*''  And  finally,  as  a  sign  of  sincerity,  I  will  ask  you  to 
reveal  to  me  your  chief  predilection,"  said  he. 

''My  predilection?  But  I  used  to  have  so  many  of 
them  !  "  exclaimed  Pierre. 

**  The  predilection  which  more  than  all  others  has 
caused  you  to  waver  in  the  path  of  virtue,"  said  the 
Mason. 

Pierre  paused,  trying  to  think. 

"  Wine }  Gluttony  .?  Slothfulness  }  Impetuosity  ? 
Anger?  Women?"  He  passed  his  faults  in  review, 
mentally  considering  them,  and  not  knowing  which  to 
take  in  preference. 

*' Women,"  said  he,  in  a  voice  so  low  that  it  was 
scarcely  audible.  The  Mason  did  not  move  and  did  not 
speak  until  long  after  this  reply.  At  last  he  approached 
Pierre,  took  up  the  handkerchief  that  was  lying  on  the 
table,  and  again  blindfolded  his  eyes. 

"  For  the  last  time  I  say  to  you :  *  Examine  yourself 
with  all  attention !  Put  a  bridle  on  your  feelings,  and 
seek  your  happiness,  not  in  your  passions,  but  in  your 
heart.  The  fountain-head  of  happiness  is  not  without, 
but  within  us.'  "  .... 

Pierre  had  already  begun  to  feel  in  himself  this  re- 
freshing fountain  of  happiness  which  now  filled  his  sou] 
to  overflowing  with  bliss  and  emotion. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  245 


CHAPTER   IV 

Shortly  after  this,  there  came  into  the  dark  chamber, 
not  the  Rhetor,  as  before,  but  Pierre's  sponsor,  Villarski, 
whom  he  recognized  by  his  voice.  In  reply  to  new 
questions  as  to  the  firmness  of  his  resolve,  Pierre  said, 
*'Yes,  yes,  I  consent,"  and  with  a  brilliant,  childlike 
smile,  with  his  broad  chest  uncovered,  awkwardly  step- 
ping along  with  one  foot  in  a  boot  and  the  other  in  a 
slipper,  he  marched  forward,  with  Villarski  holding  a 
drawn  sword  across  his  bare  breast. 

He  was  led  from  the  darkened  room  along  several 
corridors  winding  back  and  forth,  and  at  last  brought  to 
the  door  of  the  lodge-room. 

Villarski  coughed  ;  he  was  answered  by  Masonic  raps 
with  mallets;  the  door  opened  before  them.  Some  one's 
deep  voice —  Pierre's  eyes  were  still  blindfolded  —  asked 
him  who  he  was,  where  and  when  he  was  born,  and 
other  questions.  Then  he  was  led  somewhere  else,  the 
bandage  not  yet  removed,  and  while  he  was  on  the  way 
his  attendants  related  to  him  allegories  about  the  diffi- 
culties that  beset  his  way,  about  the  sacred  fraternity, 
the  Eternal  Architect  of  the  universe,  and  the  courage 
with  which  he  ought  to  endure  labors  and  sufferings. 
During  the  time  of  this  circumambulation,  Pierre  noticed 
that  he  was  called  first  the  "Seeker,"  then  the  "Sufferer," 
then  the  "  Claimant,"  while  the  mallets  and  swords  were 
struck  each,  time  in  a  different  way.  At  one  time,  just 
as  they  brought  him  to  some  object  or  other,  he  noticed 
that  there  was  confusion  and  perplexity  among  his  at- 
tendants. He  heard  the  men  surrounding  him  whisper- 
ing together,  and  one  of  them  insisting  that  he  was  to 
be  led  across  a  certain  carpet. 

After  this,  they  took  his  right  hand  and  laid  it  on 
something,  while  with  his  left  he  was  directed  to  hold  a 
pair  of  compasses  to  his  left  breast,  and  to  repeat  the 
words  read  aloud  by  one  of  the  number,  and  which 
bound  him  to  a  faithful  observance  of  the  regulations  of 
the  order.     Then  the  candles  were  extinguished;  some 


246  WAR   AND    PEACE 

alcohol  was  burned,  as  Pierre  apprehended  by  the  odor, 
and  thev  told  him  that  he  could  now  see  "  the  lesser 
light." 

The  bandage  was  removed  from  his  eyes,  and  Pierre 
saw,  as  in  a  dream,  by  the  feeble  light  of  the  alcohol 
lamp,  a  number  of  men,  who,  all  wearing  aprons  similar 
to  that  which  the  Rhetor  had  worn,  stood  in  front  of 
him  holding  swords  pointed  towards  his  chest.  Among 
them  stood  a  man  with  a  white  shirt  stained  with  blood. 
Seeing  this,  Pierre  bent  his  chest  forward  against  the 
b  words,  wishing  that  they  might  pierce  it.  But  the 
swords  were  withdrawn,  and  his  eyes  were  immediately 
rebandaged. 

"Thou  hast  now  seen  the  lesser  light,"  said  a  voice. 
Then  the  candles  were  lighted  again  ;  he  was  told  that 
he  was  to  see  the  full  light,  and  once  more  they  removed 
the  bandage,  and  more  than  a  dozen  voices  suddenly 
cried:   ^'Sic  transit  gloria  in?  nidi.'' 

Pierre  began  to  recover  himself  gradually,  and  looked 
around  the  room  in  which  he  was  and  at  the  men  who 
were  there.  Around  a  long  table  covered  with  black 
sat  a  dozen  men  in  the  trappings  worn  by  the  others 
whom  Pierre  had  seen.  Some  of  them  Pierre  had  known 
in  Petersburg  society.  At  the  head  of  the  table  was  a 
young  man  whom  Pierre  did  not  know ;  he  had  a  pecu- 
liar badge  around  his  neck.  At  his  right  hand  sat  the 
Italian  abb  ate  whom  Pierre  had  met  two  years  before  at 
Anna  Pavlovna's.  There  was  still  another  very  impor- 
tant dignitary,  and  a  Swiss,  who  had  once  been  a  tutor 
at  the  Kuragins'.  All  preserved  a  solemn  silence,  and 
listened  to  the  words  spoken  by  the  presiding  officer, 
who  held  a  mallet  in  his  hand.  Inserted  in  the  wall 
was  a  blazing  star.  At  one  end  of  the  table  was  a 
small  cover  with  various  allegorical  symbols ;  on  the 
other  was  something  in  the  nature  of  an  altar,  with  a 
copy  of  the  Gospels  and  a  skull.  Around  the  table 
were  seven  large  candlesticks,  such  as  they  have  in 
churches. 

Two  of  the  brethren  drew  Pierre  to  the  altar,  made 
him  stand  with  his  feet  at  right  angles,  and  bade  hira 


WAR   AND    PEACE  247 

lie  down,  declaring  that  he  must  prostrate  himself  at 
the  Gates  of  the  Temple. 

"  He  ought  to  receive  the  trowel  iirst,"  said  one  of 
the  brethren,  in  a  whisper. 

*'  Akh !  please  hold  your  tongue,"  said  another. 

Pierre,  with  his  distracted,  near-sighted  eyes,  looked 
around  him  without  obeying,  and  suddenly  doubts  began 
to  come  over  him. 

"  Where  am  I  ?  What  am  I  doing }  Are  they  not 
making  sport  of  me  ?  Will  not  the  time  come  when 
I  shall  be  ashamed  of  all  this  flummery  ? " 

But  this  doubt  lasted  only  for  an  instant.  He  looked 
around  on  the  grave  faces  of  the  spectators,  remembered 
all  that  he  had  already  been  through,  and  comprehended 
that  he  had  gone  too  far  now  to  withdraw. 

He  was  mortified  at  his  doubt,  and,  while  endeavoring 
to  regain  his  former  feeling  of  emotion,  he  prostrated 
himself  at  the  gates  of  the  Temple.  And,  in  reality, 
the  former  feeling  of  emotion  came  over  him  even  more 
powerfully  than  before. 

After  he  had  been  lying  there  for  some  little  time, 
he  was  bidden  to  arise,  and  they  put  upon  him  the  same 
kind  of  white  leathern  apron  which  the  others  wore, 
put  a  trowel  into  his  hand,  and  gave  him  three  pairs  of 
gloves,  and  then  the  Grand  Master  addressed  him. 

He  told  him  that  it  behooved  him  to  endeavor  never 
to  allow  the  whiteness  of  this  apron  to  be  sullied,  it 
being  the  emblem  of  strength  and  purity.  Of  the  mys- 
terious trowel,  he  said  that  he  was  to  use  it  for  eradi- 
cating the  faults  from  his  own  heart,  and  courteously 
laying  the  foundations  of  virtue  in  the  hearts  of  his 
neighbors.  Then,  as  regarded  the  first  pair  of  gloves, 
which  were  men's,  he  said  that  he  w^as  not  to  understand 
their  signification,  but  must  keep  them;  in  regard  to 
the  second  pair,  which  were  also  men's  gloves,  he  said 
that  he  was  to  wear  them  at  the  lodge-meetings ;  and, 
finally,  in  regard  to  the  third  pair,  which  were  a  woman's 
gloves,  he  said  as  follows  :  — 

**  Dear  brother,  these  woman's  gloves  also  are  destined 
for  you.      Give  them    to    the   woman    whom  you   wiU 


248  WAR    AND    PEACE 

reverence  above  all  others.  By  this  gift  you  pledge  the 
purity  of  your  heait  to  her  whom  you  will  select  as  youi 
worthy  Masonic  affinity." 

Then,  after  a  brief  pause,  he  went  on  :  — 

"  But  take  care,  dear  brother,  that  these  gloves  are 
not  worn  by  unworthy  hands  !  " 

While  the  Grand  Master  was  pronouncing  these  last 
words,  it  seemed  to  Pierre  that  he  was  embarrassed. 
Pierre  himself  was  still  more  embarrassed,  he  flushed 
till  the  tears  came,  just  as  children  flush  ;  he  began 
to  look  about  him  uneasily,  and  an  awkward  silence 
ensued. 

This  silence  was  broken  by  one  of  the  brethren,  who 
drew  Pierre  to  the  table-cover  and  began  to  read  to  him 
from  a  copy-book  an  explanation  of  all  the  symbolical 
figures  worked  in  it ;  the  sun,  moon,  the  hammer,  the 
plumb-line,  the  trowel,  the  untrimmed  and  four-square 
foundation-stone,  the  pillar,  the  three  windows,  and  other 
things. 

Then  Pierre  was  assigned  his  place ;  the  signals  of 
the  lodge  were  explained  to  him ;  the  password  was 
told  him,  and  he  was  at  last  permitted  to  sit  down. 

The  Grand  Master  began  to  read  the  regulations. 
They  were  very  long,  and  Pierre,  from  his  joy,  excite- 
ment, and  sense  of  shame,  was  not  in  a  condition  to 
understand  what  they  were  reading.  He  heard  only 
the  last  words  of  the  regulations,  and  they  impressed 
themselves  on  his  memory. 

*'  In  our  temples,  we  recognize  no  degrees,"  the  Grand 
Master  read,  "  other  than  those  which  separate  virtue  from 
wrong-doing.  Take  care  not  to  make  any  distinction  which 
may  tend  to  destroy  equality.  Fly  to  the  aid  of  a  brother,  no 
matter  who  it  may  be  ;  reclaim  the  wandering  ;  raise  the  fallen, 
and  never  cherish  anger  or  enmity  against  a  brother.  Be  gentle 
and  courteous.  Kindle  in  all  hearts  the  fires  of  virtue.  Do 
acts  of  kindness  to  thy  neighbor,  and  never  allow  thyself  to 
envy  the  happiness  of  another.  Forgive  thy  enemy,  and  avenge 
not  thyself  on  him,  except  by  doing  him  good.  Having  thus 
fulfilled  the  highest  law,  thou  wilt  discover  traces  of  thy  primai 
and  lost  greatness." 


WAR   AND    PEACE  249 

He  finished  reading,  and  getting  up,  embraced  Pierre 
and  kissed  him.  Pierre,  with  tears  of  joy  in  his  eyes, 
looked  around  him,  not  knowing  what  reply  to  make  to 
the  greetings  and  congratulations  of  the  acquaintances 
who  surrounded  him.  He  made  no  distinction  between 
old  friends  and  new;  in  every  one  he  saw  only  brethren 
whom  he  burned  with  impatience  to  join  in  carrying 
out  the  work. 

The  Grand  Master  rapped  with  his  mallet.  All  sat 
down  in  their  places,  and  some  one  read  an  address  on 
the  necessity  of  humility. 

The  Grand  Master  then  proposed  to  carry  out  the 
last  obligation,  and  the  important  dignitary  who  bore 
the  appellation  of  'Collector  of  Alms"  began  to  ap- 
proach each  in  turn.  Pierre  had  the  inclination  to  sub- 
scribe all  the  money  that  he  possessed,  but  he  was 
afraid  that  this  would  be  construed  as  an  exhibition  of 
pride,  and  he  put  down  only  what  each  of  the  others 
did. 

The  session  was  ended,  and  on  his  return  home  it 
seemed  to  Pierre  as  if  he  had  come  from  some  long 
journey  after  an  absence  of  ten  years,  and  was  entirely 
changed,  with  nothing  left  to  him  from  the  former 
objects  and  customs  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  V 

On  the  day  following  his  reception  into  the  Masonic 
lodge,  Pierre  was  sitting  at  home,  reading  a  book  and 
trying  to  penetrate  the  meaning  of  the  square  formed  on 
one  side  by  God,  on  the  second  by  the  moral  world,  on 
the  third  by  the  physical,  and  on  the  fourth  by  a  mixture. 
Occasionally,  his  attention  wandered  from  his  book  and 
square,  and  in  his  imagination  he  began  to  formulate  a 
new  plan  of  life  for  himself. 

The  evening  before,  at  the  lodge,  he  had  been  told 
that  the  emperor  had  heard  of  his  duel,  and  that  it  would 
be  for  his  advantage  to  leave  Petersburg  for  a  time. 
Pierre  proposed  to  go  to  his  southern  estates  and  look 


250  WAR   AND    PEACE 

out  for  the  welfare  of  his  peasantry.  He  was  joyfully 
thinking  about  this  new  life,  when  Prince  Vasili  unex 
pectedly  came  into  the  room. 

"My  dear,  what  have  you  been  doing  in  Moscow? 
Why,  my  dear  fellow,  what  made  you  quarrel  with 
Lyola .''  You  are  in  the  wrong,"  said  the  prince,  as  he 
came  in.  ''  I  have  known  all  about  it,  and  I  can  tell  you 
honestly  that  Ellen  is  as  innocent  toward  you  as  Christ 
toward  the  Jews." 

Pierre  started  to  reply,  but  Prince  Vasili  cut  him 
short. 

*'  And  why  did  n't  you  come  right  to  me  in  all  frank- 
ness, as  to  a  friend  ?  I  know  how  it  was,  I  understand 
it,"  said  he.  "You  behaved  as  a  man  who  prizes  his 
honor;  perhaps,  too,  you  acted  too  hastily,  but  we  won't 
discuss  that  now.  Just  think  of  this,  though  :  in  what  a 
position  you  have  put  her  and  me  in  the  eyes  of  society, 
and  especially  of  the  court,"  he  added,  lowering  his 
voice.  "  She  is  living  in  Moscow,  you  here.  Remem- 
ber, my  dear,"  —  he  made  him.  sit  down,  —  "this  is  a 
mere  misunderstanding ;  you  yourself  will  feel  so,  I  am 
sure.  Now  join  me  in  writing  a  letter,  and  she  will  come 
back,  —  everything  will  be  explained  ;  but  if  you  don't,  I 
will  tell  you,  you  may  very  easily  repent  of  it,  my  dear." 

Prince  Vasili  gave  Pierre  a  very  suggestive  look.  "  I 
have  it  from  the  very  best  sources  that  the  empress 
dowager  takes  a  lively  interest  in  all  this  matter.  You 
know  that  she  is  very  favorably  disposed  to  Ellen." 

Several  times  Pierre  collected  himself  to  speak,  but  on 
the  one  hand  Prince  Vasili  did  not  let  him  have  a  chance  ; 
on  the  other,  Pierre  himself  was  afraid  to  take  that  tone 
of  determined  refusal  with  which  he  had  definitely  mado 
up  his  mind  to  answer  his  father-in-law.  Moreover,  the 
words  of  the  Masonic  ritual,  "  Be  courteous  and  genial," 
occurred  to  him.  He  scowled,  flushed,  got  up  and  sat 
down  again,  struggling  to  perform  the  hardest  task  that 
had  ever  come  to  him  in  his  life  —  to  say  something 
unoleasant  to  a  man's  face,  to  say  exactly  the  opposite 
of  what  this  man  expected.  He  was  so  accustomed  to 
give  in  to  Prince  Vasili's  tone  of  easy-going  self-confi« 


WAR   AND    PEACE  251 

dence,  that  even  now  he  felt  that  he  had  not  the  force 
of  mind  necessary  to  oppose  him ;  but  he  felt  that  what 
he  was  going  to  say  now  was  to  decide  the  whole  destiny 
of  his  life  :  was  he  to  go  back  to  the  old  path  of  the  past, 
or  to  go  on  over  that  new  one  which  had  been  placed 
before  him  in  so  attractive  a  light  by  the  Masons,  and 
on  which  he  firmly  believed  that  he  should  find  regener- 
ation ? 

"Well,  my  dear,"  said  Prince  Vasili,  in  a  jocose  tone, 
''  tell  me  '  yes,'  now,  and  I  will  write  her  the  letter  and 
we  will  kill  the  fatted  calf." 

But  Prince  Vasili  had  not  time  to  finish  his  joke,  be- 
fore Pierre,  not  looking  at  Prince  Vasili,  and  with  a  flash 
of  rage,  which  made  him  resemble  his  father,  exclaimed 
in  a  whisper :  — 

''  Prince,  I  did  not  invite  you  to  come  ;  please  go,  go  !  " 
He  sprang  up  and  flung  the  door  open.  *'  Go  !  "  he  re- 
peated, not  believing  in  himself  and  rejoicing  in  the  ex- 
pression of  confusion  and  terror  on  Prince  Vasili's  face. 

"  What  is  the  matter  v/ith  you,  are  you  ill  ? " 

*'  Go  !  "  he  cried  once  more,  in  a  trembling  voice.  And 
Prince  Vasili  was  obliged  to  go,  without  bringing  about 
any  explanation. 

In  a  week's  time,  Pierre,  bidding  his  new  friends,  the 
Masons,  farewell,  and  leaving  in  their  hands  large  sums 
for  charities,  departed  for  his  estates.  The  brotherhood 
gave  him  letters  to  the  Masons  of  Kief  and  Odessa,  and 
promised  to  write  and  guide  him  in  his  new  activity. 


CHAPTER   VI 

Pierre's  affair  with  Dolokhof  was  hushed  up,  and, 
in  spite  of  the  emperor's  strictness  in  regard  to  dueling, 
neither  the  two  principals  nor  their  seconds  were  pun- 
ished. But  the  story  of  the  duel,  confirmed  by  Pierre's 
rupture  with  his  wife,  was  noised  abroad  in  society. 
Pierre,  who,  when  he  was  an  illegitimate  son,  had  been 
looked  upon  with  patronizing  condescension,  who,  when 
he  was  the  best  match  in  the  Russian  empire,  had  been 


252  WAR   AND    PEACE 

flattered  and  glorified,  had  lost  much  of  his  importance 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world  since  his  marriage;  and  young 
ladies  and  their  mothers  had  nothing  more  to  expect 
from  him,  the  more  from  the  fact  that  he  could  not  and 
would  not  ingratiate  himself  into  the  favor  of  fashion- 
able society.  Now,  he  alone  was  blamed  for  this  oc- 
currence; it  was  said  that  he  was  a  jealous  blockhead, 
liable  to  exactly  the  same  fits  of  ferocious  temper  as  his 
father. 

And  when,  after  Pierre's  departure,  Ellen  returned  to 
Petersburg,  she  was  received  by  all  her  acquaintances, 
not  only  gladly,  but  even  with  a  shade  of  respectful 
deference,  due  to  her  unhappiness.  When  her  husband 
was  mentioned  in  conversation,  Ellen  put  on  a  dignified 
expression,  which,  without  her  realizing  its  significance, 
she  managed  by  that  consummate  tact  of  hers  to  make 
peculiarly  becoming.  This  expression  signified  that  she 
had  made  up  her  mind  to  endure  her  unhappiness  with- 
out complaining,  and  that  her  husband  was  a  cross  sent 
her  from  God. 

Prince  Vasili  expressed  his  feelings  more  openly.  He 
would  shrug  his  shoulders  when  the  conversation  turned 
on  Pierre,  and,  pointing  to  his  forehead,  would  say :  — 

**  I  have  always  said  he  was  cracked." 

"I  said  so  before  you  did,"  insisted  Anna  Pavlovna; 
"  I  said  so  at  the  very  first,  and  before  anybody  else," 
—  she  always  claimed  priority  for  her  predictions,  — 
*'  that  he  was  a  silly  young  man,  ruined  by  the  perverse 
notions  of  the  day.  I  said  so  even  when  he  had  just 
returned  from  abroad,  and  when  every  one  was  enrap- 
tured by  him,  and  you  will  remember  that  at  one  of 
my  receptions  he  posed  as  a  sort  of  Marat.  How  is  it 
going  to  end.''  Even  then  I  did  not  approve  of  this 
marriage,  and  predicted  what  would  come  of  it." 

Anna  Pavlovna,  just  as  of  yore,  was  giving  recep- 
tions on  her  days  at  home,  and  such  ones  as  she  alone 
had  the  gift  of  arranging  —  receptions  at  which  were 
collected,  in  the  first  place,  the  cream  of  genuine  good 
society,  the  very  flower  of  the  intellectual  essence  of 
Petersburg    high    life,    as  Anna    Pavlovna    herself   ex- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  253 

pressed  it.  Over  and  above  this  discriminating  selec- 
tion of  society,  Anna  Pavlovna's  receptions,  or  "even- 
ings," were  still  more  distinguished  by  the  fact  that  at 
each  one  she  managed  to  present  to  her  company  some 
new  and  interesting  personage,  and  that  nowhere  else 
could  one  so  accurately  and  assuredly  gauge  the  politi- 
cal thermometer  by  which  the  disposition  of  the  con- 
servative court  society  of  Petersburg  was  regulated. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  year  1806,  when  the  melan- 
choly news  of  Napoleon's  defeat  of  the  Prussian  army 
at  Jena  and  Auerstadt  and  the  surrender  of  the  major- 
ity of  the  Prussian  fortresses  had  been  received,  when 
our  armies  had  just  crossed  over  into  Prussia,  and  our 
second  campaign  with  Napoleon  was  beginning,  Anna 
Pavlovna  gave  an  "at  home."  "The  cream  of  genuine 
good  society  "  consisted  of  the  charming  and  hapless 
Ellen,  Montemart,  the  bewitching  Prince  Ippolit,  just 
arrived  from  Vienna,  two  diplomats,  the  little  old  aunt, 
a  young  man  who  enjoyed  the  appellation  simply  of  "a 
man  of  great  ability,"  a  newly  promoted  maid  of  honor, 
and  a  few  persons  of  more  or  less  distinction. 

The  person  whom  Anna  Pavlovna  served  up  this 
evening,  as  a  choice  "first-fruit"  for  the  edification  of 
her  guests,  was  Boris  Drubetskoi,  who  had  just  arrived 
on  a  special  mission  from  the  army  in  Prussia  and 
was  now  enjoying  the  position  of  aide  to  a  very  great 
personage. 

The  political  thermometer  that  evening  offered  the 
following  points  for  the  study  of  society :  — 

"Whatever  all  the  rulers  and  commanders  of  Europe 
may  do  by  way  of  indulging  Bonaparte,  at  the  expense 
of  causing  me,  and  us  in  general,  annoyance  and  humil- 
iation, our  opinion  in  regard  to  Bonaparte  remains  un- 
changed and  incapable  of  change.  We  shall  not  cease 
to  express  our  views  on  this  subject,  and  we  can  merely 
say  to  the  king  of  Prussia :  *  So  much  the  worse  for 
you.  It's  your  own  choice,  Georges  Dandiiz,  that's  all 
that  we  have  to  say  about  it.'  " 

That  was  what  the  political  thermometer  indicated  at 
Anna  Pavlovna's. 


254  WAR    AND    PEACE 

When  Boris,  who  was  to  be  offered  up  to  the  guests, 
entered  the  drawing-room,  nearly  all  were  already  pres- 
ent, and  the  conversation,  under  Anna  Pavlovna's  lead, 
turned  on  our  diplomatic  relations  with  Austria  and  on 
the  hope  of  an  alliance. 

Boris,  in  an  elegant  uniform,  fresh  and  ruddy,  and 
grown  to  man's  estate,  came  with  easy  assurance  into 
the  drawing-room,  and  was  led  up,  according  to  custom, 
to  salute  the  aunt,  and  then  brought  back  to  the  general 
circle  of  the  guests. 

Anna  Pavlovna  gave  him  her  withered  hand  to  kiss, 
introduced  him  to  a  number  of  the  company  with  whom 
he  was  not  acquainted,  and  of  each  she  would  say  in  a 
whisper :  — 

*'  Prince  Ippolit  Kuragin,  a  charming  young  man ; 
Monsieur  Krouq,  cJiarge  d' a jf allies  from  Copenhagen,  a 
profound  mind  ;  "  or  simply,  "  Monsieur  Sitof,  a  man  of 
great  ability,"  giving  each  one  whom  she  named  a  word 
of  flattery. 

Boris,  since  he  had  been  in  the  service,  had,  thanks 
to  Anna  Mikhailovna's  efforts  and  to  his  own  tastes  and 
habit  of  self-control,  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  very  ad- 
vantageous position.  He  had  been  appointed  aide  to  a 
man  of  great  eminence ;  he  had  been  intrusted  with  a 
very  important  errand  to  Prussia,  and  had  only  just 
returned  from  there  as  a  special  courier.  He  had 
thoroughly  mastered  that  unwritten  system  of  subordi- 
nation which  had  pleased  him  so  much  at  Olmiitz, 
according  to  which  the  ensign  may  stand  incomparably 
higher  than  a  general,  while,  for  success  in  the  service, 
exertions  and  services  and  gallantry  are  unnecessary, 
but  all  that  is  needed  is  tact  in  getting  on  with  those 
who  control  the  patronage  of  places ;  and  he  was  often 
himself  surprised  at  his  rapid  advances,  and  by  the  fact 
that  his  friends  could  not  understand  it.  The  con- 
sequence of  this  discovery  was  that  his  whole  mode  of 
life,  and  all  his  relations  to  former  friends  and  acquain- 
tances, and  all  his  plans  for  the  future,  were  entirely 
and  absolutely  changed.  He  was  not  rich,  but  he  would 
spend  his  last  kopek  so  as  to  be  better  dressed   than 


WAR    AND    PEACE  255 

others ;  he  preferred  to  deprive  himself  of  many  pleas- 
ures sooner  than  allow  himself  to  ride  in  a  shabby  car- 
riage or  appear  in  anything  but  an  immaculate  uniform 
in  the  streets  of  Petersburg.  He  frequented  only  the 
society  of  those  who  were  above  him  and  might  be  of 
advantage  to  him.  He  liked  Petersburg  and  despised 
Moscow.  His  recollections  of  his  home  with  the 
Rostofs  and  his  boyish  love  for  Natasha  were  unpleas- 
ant to  him,  and  since  his  first  departure  for  the  army 
he  had  not  once  been  to  see  the  Rostofs. 

On  reaching  Anna  Pavlovna's  drawing-room,  an  in- 
vitation which  he  considered  equivalent  to  a  rise  in 
the  service,  he  immediately  understood  what  part  he  had 
to  play,  and  he  allowed  Anna  Pavlovna  to  make  the 
most  of  the  interest  which  centered  upon  him,  while  he 
attentively  studied  each  face  and  took  mental  stock  of 
what  possibilities  of  getting  advantage  from  each  might 
present  themselves.  He  sat  down  in  the  place  assigned 
to  him,  next  the  beautiful  Ellen,  and  began  to  listen  te 
the  conversation  that  was  going  on. 

"•'  Vienna  regards  the  basis  of  the  proposed  treaty  a? 
so  entirely  out  of  the  question  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  bring  it  about  even  by  a  series  of  the  most  brill- 
iant successes,  and  she  questions  the  means  we  have 
of  gaining  them.  Such  is  the  authentic  report  from 
Vienna,"  said  the  Danish  charge  d'affaires,  in  French, 

*'The  doubt  is  flattering,"  said  the  young  man  of  the 
profound  mind,  with  a  shrewd  smile. 

"  One  should  distinguish  between  the  cabinet  of 
Vienna  and  the  emperor  of  Austria,"  said  Montemart. 
**  The  Austrian  emperor  could  never  have  thought  of 
such  a  thing ;  it  could  only  have  been  the  cabinet  that 
said  it." 

'*  Ah,  my  dear  viscount,"  interrupted  Anna  Pavlovna, 
^^  V  Ui'ope ....''  for  some  reason  she  called  it  rUrope,  as 
a  special  refinement  of  French  which  she  might  make 
use  of  in  speaking  to  a  Frenchman.  "  Ah,  my  dear  vis- 
count, Europe  will  never  be  a  trustworthy  ally  for  us." 

And  then  Anna  Pavlovna  immediately  led  the  con- 
versation around  to  the  bravery  and  resolution  of  the 


iS6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Prussian  king,  doing  this  for  the  sake  of  giving  Boris  a 
chance  to  take  part. 

Boris  was  listening  attentively  to  what  was  said, 
awaiting  his  turn,  but,  nevertheless,  he  had  been  able  to 
look  several  times  at  his  neighbor,  the  beautiful  Ellen, 
who,  with  a  smile,  had  more  than  once  exchanged 
glances  with  the  handsome  young  adjutant. 

Quite  naturally,  while  speaking  of  the  position  of 
Prussia,  Anna  Pavlovna  begged  Boris  to  tell  about  his 
visit  to  Glogau,  and  the  state  in  which  he  found  the 
Prussian  army.  Boris,  without  undue  haste,  speaking 
in  pure  and  elegant  French,  related  very  many  interest- 
ing particulars  about  ,  the  army,  and  about  ■  the  court, 
but  throughout  his  story  he  carefully  avoided  expressing 
any  personal  opinion  in  regard  to  the  facts  which  he 
communicated.  For  some  time  Boris  held  the  attention 
of  all,  and  Anna  Pavlovna  was  conscious  that  all  her 
guests  took  great  satisfaction  in  the  treat  that  she  had 
set  before  them. 

Ellen,  more  than  any  one  else,  gave  her  undivided 
attention  to  what  Boris  had  to  say.  She  several  times 
asked  him  in  regard  to  certain  details  of  his  journey, 
and  was  apparently  greatly  interested  in  the  position  of 
the  Prussian  army.  As  soon  as  he  had  finished,  she 
turned  to  him  with  her  usual  smile,  and  said :  — 

*'  You  must  be  sure  to  come  and  see  me."  She  spoke 
in  a  tone  which  seemed  to  imply  that  circumstances 
of  which  he  could  know  nothing  made  it  absolutely 
imperative. 

"  Tuesday,  between  eight  o'clock  and  nine.  You  will 
give  me  great  pleasure." 

Boris  promised  to  comply  with  her  wishes,  and  was 
about  to  engage  her  in  further  conversation,  when  Anna 
Pavlovna  called  him  away,  under  the  pretext  that  her 
old  aunt  wanted  to  speak  with  him. 

"You  used  to  know  her  husband,  didn't  you .''"  asked 
Anna  Pavlovna,  closing  her  eyes,  and  making  a  melan- 
choly gesture  toward  Ellen.  **  Akh  !  she  is  such  an  un- 
happy and  charming  woman.  Don't  speak  to  her  about 
him,  please  be  careful  about  it.     It  is  too  hard  for  her/' 


WAR   AND    PEACE  557 


CHAPTER   VII 

When  Boris  and  Anna  Pavlovna  returned  to  the  gen- 
eral circle,  Prince  Ippolit  had  taken  the  lead  in  the  con- 
versation. .  Leaning  forward  in  his  chair,  he  had  'said  : 
'' Lc  roi  de  Prusse,''  and  when  he  said  it,  he  laughed. 
All  turned  to  him.  '' Le  roi  de  Pntssef  asked  Ippolit, 
again  laughing,  and  then  with  a  calm  and  serious  ex- 
pression throwing  himself  back  into  the  depths  of  his 
easy-chair.  Anna  Pavlovna  waited  a  little  for  him,  but 
as  Ippolit  apparently  had  firmly  shut  his  mouth  not  to 
say  anything  more,  she  started  the  conversation  on  the 
godless  Bonaparte  laying  hands  on  the  sword  of  Fred- 
erick the  Great  at  Potsdam. 

"'Tis  the  sword  of  Frederick  the  Great  which...." 
she  began  to  say,  but  Ippolit  interrupted  her  with  the 
words :  — 

'' Le  i'oi  de  Priisse ....  "  and  again,  as  before,  when  all 
had  turned  toward  him,  he  begged  her  pardon  and  re- 
mained silent.  Anna  Pavlovna  frowned ;  Montemart, 
Ippolit's  friend,  turned  to  him  peremptorily :  *'  What 
do  you  mean  now  by  your  roi  de  Priissef 

Ippolit  laughed,  as  if  he  were  ashamed  of  laugh- 
ing:— 

'*  No,  it 's  nothing  at  all,  I  only  meant ...." 

He  was  trying  to  get  off  a  joke  which  he  had  heard 
in  Vienna,  and  which  he  had  been  anxious  the  whole 
evening  long  to  spring  on  the  company.     He  said :  — 

'*  I  only  meant  that  we  were  doing  wrong  to  wage 
war  for  le  roi  de  Prusse''  ^ 

Boris  smiled  a  guarded  smile,  which  might  have  been 
taken  to  signify  a  sneer  or  approbation  of  the  joke, 
according  as  it  was  received  by  the  company.  All 
laughed. 

"  Your  pun  is  very  naughty !  it 's  witty,  but  it 's  un- 
fair," said  Anna  Pavlovna,  in  French,  threatening  him 

1  An  untranslatable  joke :  pour  le  roi  de  Prusse  means  y2)r  mere  trifles 
—  ^  uthor's  Note. 

VOL.  II. — 17 


258  WAR   AND    PEACE 

with  her  finger.  **  We  do  not  wage  war  for  le  rot  de 
Pnisse,  but  for  good  principles.  Oh,  this  naughty 
Prince  Ippolit,"  said  she. 

The  conversation  had  not  languished  the  whole 
evening,  though  it  had  turned  principally  on  political 
matters.  Toward  the  end  of  the  evening  it  grew  par- 
ticularly lively  on  the  topic  of  the  rewards  bestowed  by 
the  emperor. 

*'  Now  last  year  N.  N.  received  a  snuff-box,  with  a 
portrait,"  said  the  man  '*of  the  profound  mind."  "Why 
should  not  S.  S.  receive  the  same  reward  .?  " 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  a  snuff-box  with  the  emperor's 
portrait  is  a  reward,  but  not  a  distinction,"  said  one  of 
the  diplomats.     "  A  gift,  rather." 

"There  have  been  precedents.  I  will  mention 
Schwartzenberg." 

"  It 's  impossible,"  said  the  other.  "  I  '11  make  you 
a  wager.     The  ribbon  is  a  different  thing." 

When  all  got  up  to  leave,  Ellen,  who  had  spoken  very 
little  all  the  evening,  addressed  Boris  again,  and  begged 
him  with  the  most  flattering  and  significant  expression 
to  come  to  see  her  the  following  Tuesday. 

"  It  will  be  a  very  great  favor  to  me,"  said  she,  with 
a  smile,  glancing  at  Anna  Pavlovna,  and  Anna  Pavlovna, 
with  that  same  melancholy  expression  which  always  ac- 
companied her  words  when  she  spoke  of  her  august 
protectress,  corroborated  Ellen's  request. 

It  seemed  that  from  certain  words  spoken  by  Boris 
that  evening  concerning  the  Prussian  army,  Ellen  had 
suddenly  conceived  a  powerful  determination  to  see 
him.  She  practically  promised  him  that  when  he  came, 
on  the  following  Tuesday,  she  would  tell  him  what  it 
was  that  made  her  wish  to  see  him. 

But  when,  on  the  Tuesday  evening,  Boris  reached 
Ellen's  salon,  he  received  no  explanation  that  made  it 
plain  why  he  was  so  anxiously  desired  to  come.  There 
were  other  guests ;  the  countess  talked  very  little  with 
him,  and  only  on  his  departure,  just  as  he  was  kissing 
her  hand,  she  unexpectedly  whispered  to  him,  without 
any  smile,  —  which  was  strange  for  her :  — 


WAR   AND    PEACE  259 

"Come   to-morrow    evening  to    dinner.     You   really 

must  come  !  "  ^     •  , 

Thus  with  his  first  visit  to  Petersburg  began  Boris  s 
intimacy  at  the  house  of  the  Countess  Bezukhaya. 

CHAPTER   VIII 

The  war  was  growing  fiercer,  and  its  theater  was 
approaching  the  Russian  frontiers.  Everywhere  were 
heard  curses  against  Bonaparte,  the  enemy  of  all  the 
human  race.  In  all  the  villages  of  the  empire,  veter- 
ans and  raw  recruits  were  forming  into  companies,  and 
from  the  theater  of  war  came  conflicting  rumors, 
usuallv  false,  and  consequently   interpreted  in  various 

ways. 

The  life  of  the  old  Prince  Bolkonsky,  Prmce  Andre'f, 
and  the  Princess  Mariya  had  changed  in  many  respects 
since  the  year  1805. 

In  1806  the  old  prince  was  appomted  one  of  the 
eight  commanders-in-chief  for  the  militia,  at  that  time 
•  recruiting  all  over  Russia.  The  old  prince,  in  spite  of 
the  weaknesses  of  age,  which  had  become  especially 
noticeable  at  the  period  when  he  supposed  that  his  son 
was  killed,  felt  that  he  had  no  right  to  refuse  the  duty 
to  which  he  had  been  called  by  the  sovereign  in  person, 
and  this  new  activity  into  which  he  entered  stimulated 
and  strengthened  him.  He  was  constantly  engaged  in 
journeying  about  the  three  governments  intrusted  to 
him;  he  carried  his  regulations  even  to  pedantry;  he 
was  stern  and  strict  even  to  cruelty  with  his  subordi- 
nates, and  he  himself  looked  into  the  smallest  details  of 
his  work.  • 

The  Princess  Mariya  had  now  ceased  to  recite  her 
lessons  in  mathematics  to  her  father,  and  only  on 
mornings  when  he  was  at  home  did  she  go  to  his 
cabinet,  accompanied  by  the  wet-nurse  and  the  "  little 
Prince  Nikolai,"  as  his  grandfather  called  him.  The 
baby  prince,  with  his  wet-nurse  and  the  old  Nyanya 
Savishna,  lived  in  the  apartments  which  had  been 
occupied  by  the  princess,  his  mother;  and  the  young 


'x6o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Princess  Mariya  spent  a  large  portion  of  the  day  in  the 
nursery,  trying  to  the  best  of  her  ability  to  take  the 
place  of  mother  to  her  little  nephew.  Mile.  Bourienne 
also  apparently  felt  a  passionate  love  for  the  child,  and 
the  Princess  Mariya,  often  in  a  spirit  of  sacrifice,  would 
allow  her  friend  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  little 
"  angel,"  as  she  called  her  nephew,  and  playing  with 
him. 

Near  the  altar  of  the  Luisorgorsky  church,  a  chapel 
had  been  built  to  the  memory  of  the  little  princess,  and 
in  the  chapel  was  placed  a  marble  monument  brought 
from  Italy,  representing  an  angel  with  outstretched 
wings  as  if  about  to  mount  to  heaven.  The  angel's 
upper  lip  was  lifted  a  little,  as  if  she  were  going  to 
smile,  and  once  Prince  Andrei  and  the  Princess  Mariya, 
as  they  came  out  of  the  chapel,  agreed  that  the  face  of 
the  angel  reminded  them  strangely  of  the  face  of  the 
departed.  But  what  was  still  stranger  —  and  this  Prince 
Andrei  did  not  remark  to  his  sister  —  was  that  in  this 
expression  which  the  artist  had  accidentally  given  to  the 
angel's  face,  Prince  Andrei  read  those  very  words  of 
sweet  reproach  which  he  had  before  read  on  the  face 
of  his  dead  wife  :  — 

**  Akh  !  why  have  you  done  this  to  me  ?  " 

Shortly  after  Prince  Andrei's  return,  the  old  prince 
had  quarreled  with  his  son  and  made  over  to  him  the 
large  estate  of  Bogucharovo,  situated  about  forty  versts 
from  Luisiya  Gorui.  Partly  on  account  of  the  sad  recol- 
lections associated  with  Luisiya  Gorui,  partly  because 
Prince  Andrei  always  felt  himself  unable  to  endure  his 
father's  idiosyncrasies,  and  partly  also  because  he  felt 
the  need  of  solitude,  he  took  possession  of  Bogucha- 
rovo, established  himself  there,  and  there  spent  a  large 
part  of  his  time. 

Prince  Andrei  after  the  battle  of  Austerlitz  had  reso- 
lutely made  up  his  mind  never  to  go  back  into  the 
military  service  again ;  and,  when  the  war  began,  and 
all  were  obliged  to  enlist,  he,  in  order  to  escape  active 
service,  accepted  a  position  under  his  father's  command 
in  the  recruiting  of  the  militia. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  261 

Since  the  campaign  of  1805,  the  old  prince  and  his 
son  seemed  to  have  exchanged  parts  ;  the  father,  excited 
by  active  Ufe,  expected  all  that  was  good  from  the 
campaign ;  Prince  ^ndrei,  on  the  contrary,  not  takmg 
any  active  part  in  the  war,  and  in  the  secret  depths  of 
his  heart  regretting  it,  saw  only  a  dark  prospect  ahead. 
On  the  tenth  of  March,  1807,  the  old  prince  started  on 
one  of  his  circuits.  Prince  Andrei,  as  usual  during  his 
father's  absences,  stayed  at  Luisiya  Gorui.  The  dear 
little  Nikolushka  had  not  been  quite  well  for  several 
days.  The  coachman  who  had  driven  the  old  prince  to 
the  next  town  returned  and  brought  documents  and  let- 
ters for  Prince  Andrei.  The  valet,  carrying  the  mail, 
failing  to  find  the  prince  in  his  study,  went  to  the 
Princess  Mariya's  apartments,  but  he  was  not  there 
either.  The  valet  was  informed  that  the  prince  had 
gone  to  the  nursery. 

"If  you  please,  your  illustriousness,  Petrusha  has 
come  with  some  documents,"  said  one  of  the  maids  em- 
ployed in  the  nursery,  addressing  Prince  Andrei,  who 
was  sitting  in  a  child's,  small  chair,  and  with  knitted 
brows  and  trembling  hands  was  dropping  medicine  from 
a  bottle  into  a  tumbler  half  full  of  water. 

''What  did  you  say.?"  said  he,  testily;  and  by  an 
unguarded  movement  of  his  trembling  hand  he  poured 
too  many  drops  into  the  glass  of  waten  He  threw  the 
medicine  on  the  floor  and  asked  for  some  more  water. 
The  maid  handed  it  to  him. 

In  the  room  stood  a  child's  cradle,  two  chests,  two 
arm-chairs,  a  table,  a  child's  table,  and  the  little  chair  m 
which  Prince  Andrei  was  sitting.  The  windows  were 
closely  shaded,  and  on  the  table  burned  a  single  candle 
shaded  by  a  bound  volume  of  music,  so  that  no  light 
might  fall  on  the  cradle. 

-My  dear,"  said  the  Princess  Mariya,  turning  to  her 
brother  from  the  cradle  by  which   she  was  standing, 
.  •'  you  had  better  wait ....  until .... " 

"  Akh  !  Please  be  kind  enough  ....  you  're  always  talk- 
ing nonsense,  and  you  're  always  procrastinating ;  and 
see  what  it  has  led  to  now !  "  said  Prince  Andref,  in  an 


262  WAR   AND    PEACE 

angry  whisper,  with  the  manifest  intention  of  wounding 
his  sister. 

^  "  My  dear,  truly  it  would  be  better  not  to  awaken 
him;  he  is  asleep  now,"  said  the  princess,  in  a  suppli- 
cating voice. 

Prince  AndrcY  got  up  and  went  over  on  tiptoes  to  the 
cradle  with  the  glass  in  his  hand. 

"Had  we  really  better  not  wake  him?"  said  he, 
irresolutely. 

"Just  as  you  please  ;  truly,  I  think  so.  But  just  as 
you  think  best,"  said  the  Princess  Mariya,  evidently 
embarrassed  and  a  little  ashamed  that  her  opinion  was 
about  to  rule.  She  called  her  brother's  attention  to  the 
maid  who  was  speaking  to  him  in  a  whisper. 

It  was  the  second  night  that  neither  of  them  had  got 
any  sleep  on  account  of  watching  over  the  baby,  who 
was  suffering  from  a  sharp  attack  of  fever.  All  this 
time,  since  they  had  felt  very  little  confidence  in  their 
own  domestic  physician,  and  were  expecting  one  to  be 
sent  them  from  the  city,  they  had  disagreed  about  reme- 
dies, the  one  preferring  one  thing,  the  other,  another. 
Suffering  from  sleeplessness  and  anxiety,  they  each 
blamed  the  other,  and  indulged  in  recriminations  which 
amounted  to  actual  quarrels. 

"Petrusha,  with  documents  from  your  papenka," 
whispered  the  maid.     Prince  Andrei"  went  out. 

"  The  devil  take  them  !  "  he  exclaimed,  and  after  hear- 
ing the  verbal  messages  from  his  father,  and  taking  the 
envelopes  and  letters,  he  went  back  to  the  nursery. 

"  How  is  he  now  .?  "  asked  Prince  Andrei. 

"Just  the  same.  We  must  await  the  mercy  of  God. 
Karl  Ivanuitch  always  declares  that  sleep  is  better  than 
any  medicine,"  whispered  Princess  Mariya,  with  a  sigh. 

Prince  Andrei  went  to  the  child  and  felt  of  him.  He 
was  very  hot. 

"  The  mischief  take  you  and  your  Karl  Ivanuitch  !  " 

He  took  the  glass  with  the  medicine  which  he  had 
dropped  into  it,  and  again  approached  the  cradle. 

"Andre,  you  ought  not,"  exclaimed  the  Princess 
Mariya. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  263 

But  be  scowled  wrathfully  at  her,  and  at  the  same 
time  with  the  look  of  a  martyr,  and  bent  over  the  baby 
with  his  glass.  ''I  insist  upon  it,"  said  he.  "Well, 
then,  you  give  it  to  him!" 

The  Princess  Mariya  shrugged  her  shoulders,  but 
obediently  took  the  glass,  and,  calling  the  nurse  to  help, 
tried  to  give  the  child  the  medicine.  The  baby  screamed 
and  strangled.  Prince  Andrei,  scowling,  clasped  his 
hands  to  his  head,  left  the  room,  and  sat  down  on  a 
divan  in  the  next  room. 

The  letters  were  still  in  his  hands.  He  mechanically 
opened  them  and  began  to  read  them.  The  old  prince, 
in  his  large  scrawly  hand,  sometimes  employing  abbre- 
viations and  quaint  archaic  words,  wrote  on  blue  paper 
as  follows :  — 

''  I  have  just  at  this  moment  received  very  agreeable  news  — 
unless  it 's  a  canard.  Benigsen  is  said  to  have  gained  a  com- 
plete victory  over  Buonaparte  at  Eylau.  They  are  wild  with 
dehght  at  Petersburg,  and  endless  rewards  have  been  distributed 
in  the  army.  Though  he  's  a  German,  I  congratulate  him.  I 
cannot  imagine  what  that  nachalnik,  Hendrikof,  is  doing  at 
Korchevo  ;  so  far  no  reinforcements  or  provisions  have  come 
from  him.  Go  there  as  quick  as  you  can  and  tell  him  that  I 
will  take  his  head  off,  if  everything  is  not  here  within  a  week's 
time.  I  have  received  additional  news  about  the  battle  of 
Eylau  through  a  letter  from  Petinka ;  he  took  part  —  it's  all 
true.  When  mischief-makers  do  not  meddle,  then  even  a  Ger- 
man can  beat  Buonaparte.  They  say  he  is  retreating  in  great 
disorder.  See  that  you  go  to  Korchevo  without  delay,  and 
hurry  things  along." 

Prince  AndreY  sighed  and  tore  open  another  envelope. 
This  was  a  closely  written  letter  from  Bilibin,  filling  two 
sheets.  He  folded  it  up  without  reading  it,  and  again 
perused  the  letter  from  his  father,  ending  with  the  words: 
''Go  to  Korchevo  without  delay,  and  hurry  things 
along." 

"  No,  excuse  me,  I  will  not  go  now,  when  my  baby  is 
still  sick,"  he  said  to  himself,  and,  stepping  to  the  door. 


264  WAR    AND    PEACE 

he  looked  into  the  nursery.  Princess  Mariya  still  stood 
by  the  cradle,  and  was  gently  rocking  the  child. 

"  Yes,  what  in  the  name  of  goodness  was  that  other 
disagreeable  thing  that  he  wrote  ?  "  asked  Prince  Andref, 
trying  to  recall  his  father's  letter.  "  Oh,  yes.  Our  men 
have  won  a  victory  over  Bonaparte,  now  that  I  am  not 
there  to  take  part.  Yes,  yes  ;  he  will  have  a  good  chance 
to  make  sport  of  me;  well,  let  him  if  he  wants."  .... 

And  he  began  to  read  Bilibin's  letter,  which  was  in 
French.  He  read  without  understanding  half  of  it,  read 
it  simply  for  the  sake  of  forgetting  for  the  moment  what 
had  been  painfully  and  quite  too  long  occupying  his 
thoughts  to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else. 


CHAPTER   IX 

BiLiBiN  was  now  acting  as  a  diplomatic  chinovnik  at 
the  headquarters  of  the  army,  and  though  he  wrote  in 
French  with  French  jests  and  phraseology,  still  he  de- 
scribed the  whole  campaign  with  genuine  Russian  fear- 
lessness, not  sparing  reproaches  or  sarcasms.  He  wrote 
that  the  discretion  imposed  upon  him  by  the  necessities 
of  diplomacy  annoyed  him,  and  that  he  was  glad  to  have 
in  Prince  Andrei  an  ingenuous  correspondent,  to  whom 
he  was  able  to  pour  out  all  the  spleen  which  had  been 
accumulating  in  him  at  the  sight  of  what  was  going  on 
in  the  army.  This  letter  was  of  somewhat  ancient  date, 
having  been  penned  even  before  the  battle  of  Preussisch- 
Eylau.     Bilibin  wrote  as  follows :  — 

"  Since  our  great  success  at  Austerlitz,  my  dear  prince,  I  have 
been,  as  you  may  know,  constantly  at  headquarters.  I  have 
conceived  a  decided  taste  for  war,  and  so  much  the  better  for 
me.  What  I  have  witnessed  these  past  three  months  is  beyond 
belief !  ^ 

"  I  will  begin  al  ovo~2X  the  very  beginning.  The  '  enemy 
of  the  human  race,'  as  you  are  well  aware,  has  been  attacking 
the  Prussians.  The  Prussians  are  our  faithful  allies,  who  have 
only  duped  us  three  times  within  three  years.     Consequently, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  265 

we  take  up  their  cause.  But  it  proves  that  the  '  enemy  of  the 
human  race  '  pays  no  attention  to  our  fine  speeches,  and,  in 
accordance  with  his  rough  and  untrained  nature,  flings  himself 
on  the  Prussians  without  allowing  them  to  finish  their  parade, 
in  short  meter  beats  them  all  hollow  —  ks  rosse  a  plate  couture 
—  and  makes  himself  at  home  in  the  palace  at  Potsdam. 

"  '  I  have  the  most  earnest  desire,'  writes  the  king  of  Prussia, 
to  Bonaparte,  'that  your  majesty  should  be  received  and 
treated  in  my  palace  as  would  be  most  agreeable  to  you,  and  I 
hasten  to  take  all  measures  to  this  end  that  circumstances  per- 
mit.    I  only  hope  that  I  have  been  successful.' 

"  The  Prussian  generals  make  it  a  point  of  honor  to  be  gra- 
cious toward  the  French  and  lay  down  their  arms  at  the  first 
summons. 

*'  The  principal  officer  of  the  garrison  of  Glogau,  with  ten 
thousand  men,  asks  the  king  of  Prussia  what  he  shall  do  if  he 
is  called  upon  to  surrender.     Fact ! 

"  In  short,  while  hoping  to  make  a  great  impression  solely  by 
our  military  attitude,  lo  and  behold  !  liere  we  are  in  for  a  real 
war  and  what  is  worse,  for  a  war  on  our  own  frontiers  avec  and 
pour  le  roi  de  Prusse  ! 

"  Everything  is  all  ready  ;  we  lack  only  one  trifling  thing,  that 
is,  a  general-in-chief.  As  it  has  been  discovered  that  the  suc- 
cess of  Austerlitz  might  have  been  more  decided,  if  only  the 
general-in-chief  had  been  older,  all  the  octogenarians  have  been 
brought  forward,  and  between  Prosorovsky  and  Kamensky,  the 
preference  has  been  given  to  the  latter.  The  general  comes  to 
us  in  a  kibitka  after  the  style  of  Suvorof,  and  is  received  with 
acclamations  of  joy  and  triumph. 

''  On  the  fourth  comes  the  first  courier  from  Petersburg.  The 
mail  is  brought  into  the  marshal's  study,  as  he  likes  to  do  every- 
thing personally.  I  am  summoned  to  help  sort  the  letters  and 
take  those  addressed  to  ourselves.  The  marshal  looks  on 
while  we  work,  and  waits  for  the  packages  addressed  to  him. 
We  search  them  over,  but  there  is  not  one.  The  marshal  be- 
comes impatient  and  sets  to  work  himself  and  finds  letters  from 
the  emperor  for  Count  T.,  for  Prince  V.,  and  others.  Then  lo 
and  behold  !  he  goes  off  into  one  of  his  blue  rages.  He  shoots 
fire  and  flames  against  everybody ;  he  seizes  the  letters,  breaks 
their  seals,  and  reads  those  which  the  emperor  has  written  to 
others. 

*' '  So  that 's  the  way  I  am  treated  !  They  have  no  confidence 
in  me  !     Ah,  that 's  a  fine  notion,  setting  others  to  watch  my 


266  WAR   AND    PEACE 

actions  !  Away  with  you.'  And  he  writes  his  famous  ordet 
of  the  day  to  General  Benigsen  :  — 

"*I  am  wounded,  and  cannot  ride  on  horseback,  and  conse- 
quently cannot  command  the  army.  You  have  taken  your 
defeated  corps  d'ar??tee  into  Pultusk ;  there  it  is  exposed,  and 
lacks  firewood  and  provender,  and,  as  you  yourself  reported 
last  evening  to  Count  Buxhovden,  you  must  devise  measures 
for  retiring  beyond  our  frontier ;  see  that  this  is  done  to-day.' 

"'Owing  to  all  my  riding  on  horseback,'  he  writes  to  the 
emperor,  '  I  have  become  galled  by  the  saddle,  which,  in  addi- 
tion to  my  former  infirmities,  entirely  prevents  me  from  riding 
on  horseback  and  commanding  such  an  extensive  army,  and 
therefore  I  have  transferred  the  command  to  Count  Buxhovden, 
who  is  next  in  seniority  to  myself,  giving  him  the  whole  charge, 
and  advising  him,  in  case  he  cannot  obtain  bread,  to  move 
nearer  to  the  interior  of  Prussia,  since  only  enough  bread  is 
left  for  one  day,  and  some  of  the  regiments  have  none  at  all, 
—  according  to  the  reports  of  the  division  commanders,  Oster- 
mann  and  Sedmoretsky,  —  and  the  peasants,  also,  have  nothing 
left.  And  I  myself  shall  remain  in  the  hospital  at  Ostrolenko 
until  I  am  well.  In  offering,  most  respectfully,  this  report,  I 
would  add  that  if  this  army  remain  another  fortnight  in  its 
present  bivouac,  by  spring  there  will  not  be  a  single  sound 
soldier  left. 

" '  Permit  an  old  man  to  retire  to  the  country,  since  he  is 
now  so  feeble  that  he  finds  it  impossible  to  fulfil  the  great 
and  glorious  duty  for  which  he  was  chosen.  I  shall  await  your 
all-gracious  permission  here  in  the  hospital,  so  as  not  to  play 
the  j'ole  of  a  clerk  instead  of  commander  at  the  head  of  the 
army.     Of  men  like  myself  there  are  thousands  in  Russia.' 

"  The  marshal  is  vexed  with  the  emperor,  and  punishes  all 
of  us  for  it.     Is  n't  that  logical  ? 

"  Thus  ends  the  first  act.  In  those  that  follow,  the  interest 
and  the  absurdity  increase  in  proper  degree.  After  the  mar- 
shal's departure,  it  is  discovered  that  we  are  in  sight  of  the 
enemy,  and  must  fight.  Buxhovden  is  commander-general-in- 
chief  by  order  of  seniority,  but  General  Benigsen  is  not  of  this 
opinion ;  all  the  more  because  it  is  he  and  his  corps  who  are 
in  sight  of  the  enemy,  and  he  is  anxious  to  profit  by  the  occa- 
sion to  fight  a  battle  on  his  own  account,  '  atis  eigene  Hand,^ 
as  the  Germans  say.  He  does  so.  This  is  the  battle  of  Pultusk, 
which  is  reported  to  be  a  great  victory,  but  which,  in  my  opin- 
ion, was  no  victory  at  all.     We  civilians  —  7ious  autres  pekim 


WAR   AND    PEACE  267 

have,  as  you  are  well  aware,  a  very  wretched  habit  of  mak- 
ing up  our  own  minds  in  regard  to  the  gain  or  loss  of  a  baUle. 
The  one  who  retires  after  the  battle  is  the  loser,  so  we  say,  and 
in  this  respect  we  lost  the  battle  of  Pultusk. 

"  In  short,  we  retreat  after  the  battle,  but  we  send  a  courier 
to  Petersburg  to  carry  the  news  of  the  victory,  and  the  general 
refuses  to  surrender  the  chief  command  to  Buxhovden,  hoping 
to  receive  from  Petersburg  the  title  of  general-in-chief  as  a 
reward  for  his  victory. 

"  During  this  interregnum,  we  begin  an  excessively  interesting 
and  original  scheme  of  manoeuvers.  Our  design  consists  not, 
as  it  should  have  been,  in  avoiding  or  attacking  the  enemy,  but 
solely  of  avoiding  General  Buxhovden,  who  by  right  of  seniority 
should  be  our  chief.  We  pursue  this  plan  with  so  much  energy, 
that  even  in  crossing  an  unfordable  river  we  burn  our  bridges 
to  cut  off  the  enemy,  who  for  the  nonce  is  not  Bonaparte  but 
Buxhovden.  General  Buxhovden  just  misses  being  attacked 
and  taken  by  overwhelming  forces  of  the  enemy  by  reason  of 
one  of  our  pretty  manoeuvers  which  saves  us  from  him.  Bux- 
hovden pursues  us,  —  we  sneak  away.  As  soon  as  he  crosses 
to  our  side  of  the  river  we  cross  back  again.  At  last  our 
enemy,  Buxhovden,  catches  up  with  us,  and  attacks  us.  The 
two  generals  have  a  quarrel.  Buxhovden  even  goes  so  far  as 
to  send  a  challenge,  and  Benigsen  has  an  attack  of  epilepsy. 

"  But  at  the  critical  moment  the  courier  who  carried  the  news 
of  our  victory  at  Pultusk  returns  with  our  nomination  as  gen- 
eral-in-chief, and  our  enemy  No.  i  is  done  for.  We  can  think 
of  No.  2,  Bonaparte.  But  what  do  you  suppose?  Just  at  this 
moment  there  rises  before  us  a  third  enemy,  the  prazm/amwye, 
—  the  orthodox  army,  —  loudly  clamoring  for  bread,  for  meat, 
for  sukhari}  for  hay,  and  what  not  !  The  stores  are  empty ; 
the  roads  impassable.  The  orthodox  troops  set  themselves  to 
marauding,  and  in  a  way  of  which  the  last  campaign  would  not 
give  you  the  slightest  notion.  Half  of  the  regiments  form 
themselves  into  freebooters,  scouring  the  country  and  putting 
everything  to  fire  and  sword.  The  natives  are  ruined,  root 
and  branch  ;  the  hospitals  are  overflowing  with  sick,  and  famine 
is  everywhere.  Twice  the  headquarters  have  been  attacked  by 
troops  of  marauders,  and  the  general-in-chief  has  himself  been 
obliged  to  ask  for  a  battalion  to  drive  them  off.  In  one  of 
these  attacks  my  empty  trunk  and  my  dressing-gown  was  car- 
ried off.  The  emperor  has  consented  to  grant  all  the  division 
1  Biscuits,  hardtack. 


268  WAR   AND    PEACE 

chiefs  the  right  to  shoot  the  marauders,  but  I  very  nuich  fear 
that  such  a  course  would  obhge  one  half  of  the  army  to  shoot 
the  other' half." 

Prince  Andrei  at  first  read  with  his  eyes  alone,  but 
gradually,  in  spite  of  himself,  what  he  was  reading  — 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  was  well  aware  of  how  far 
Bilibin  was  to  be  trusted  —  began  to  absorb  him  mvore 
and  more.  Having  read  thus  far  he  crumpled  up  the 
letter  and  threw  it  aside.  It  was  not  what  he  had  read 
in  the  letter  that  moved  his  indignation,  but  rather  the 
fact  that  the  life  there,  so  remote  and  foreign  to  him 
now,  had  still  the  power  to  stir  him.  He  closed  his 
eyes,  rubbed  his  forehead  with  his  hand,  as  if  to  drive 
away  all  recollection  of  what  he  had  been  reading  — 
and  listened  to  what  was  going  on  in  the  nursery. 

Suddenly  it  seemed  to  him  that  he  heard  a  strange 
sound  there.  -  A  great  fear  came  over  him ;  he  was 
afraid  that  something  might  have  happened  to  his 
baby  while  he  was  reading  the  letter.  He  w^ent  to  the 
nursery  door  on  his  tiptoes,  and  opened  it. 

As  he  went  in,  he  noticed  that  the  nurse,  with  a 
frightened  face,  was  hiding  something  from  him,  and 
the  Princess  Mariya  was  no  longer  by  the  cradle. 

"My  dear,"  he  heard  behind  him,  in  his  sister's 
frightened  voice,  as  it  seemed  to  him.  As  often  occurs 
after  long  wakefulness  and  keen  emotion,  a  causeless 
panic  came  over  him ;  he  imagined  that  the  child  was 
dead.  All  that  he  heard  and  saw  seemed  to  confirm 
his  fear. 

"  It  is  all  over,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  a  cold  sweat 
stood  out  on  his  brow.  He  went  to  the  cradle  in  great 
apprehension,  firmly  convinced  that  he  should  find  it 
empty,  that  the  nurse-girl  was  hiding  his  dead  baby ! 
He  drew  the  curtains  aside,  and  it  was  some  time  be- 
fore his  frightened,  wandering  eyes  could  find  the 
child.  At  last  he  saw  him.  The  little  one,  all  rosv, 
lay  sprawled  out  across  the  cradle,  with  his  head  lower 
than  the  pillow,  and  was  smacking  his  lips  in  his  sleep 
and  breathing  regularly. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  269 

Prince  Andrei  was  delighted  to  see  the  child  so, 
when  he  was  already  beginning  to  think  that  he  had 
lost  him.  He  bent  over,  and,  as  his  sister  had  instructed 
him,  felt  with  his  lips  whether  the  baby's  fever  had 
gone.  The  sweet  brow  was  moist ;  he  passed  his  hand 
over  the  little  head,  and  the  soft  hair  was  also  moist, 
the  baby  was  in  such  a  perspiration!  Not  only  was 
the  baby  not  dead,  but  he  was  aware  now  that  the  crisis 
had  passed,  and  that  he  was  better.  He  felt  a  strong 
inclination  to  snatch  up  this  helpless  little  creature  and 
press  him  to  his  heart;. but  he  dared  not  do  so.  He 
stood  over  him,  looking  at  his  head,  and  at  his  little 
arms  and  feet,  which  had  thrown  off  the  coverings. 
He  heard  a  rusthng  behind  him,  and  thought  he  saw  a 
shadow  outlined  on  the  curtain  of  the  cradle.  But  he 
did  not  look  around,  but  gazed  into  the  baby's  face,  still 
listening  to  his  regular  breathing.  The  dark  shadow 
was  the  Princess  Mariya,  who,  with  noiseless  steps, 
came  to  the  cradle,  lifted  the  curtain,  and  dropped  it 
after  her.  Prince  Andrei,  without  looking  around, 
recognized  her,  and  stretched  out  his  hand  to  her.  She 
pressed  his  hand. 

'*  He  is  in  a  perspiration,"  said  Prince  Andrei'. 
''  I  had  gone  out  to  tell  you." 

The  baby  stirred  a  little  in  his  sleep,  smiled,  and 
rubbed  his  forehead  against  the  pillow.  Prince  Andrei- 
looked  at  his  sister.  The  Princess  Mariya's  lustrous 
eyes  in  the  subdued  twilight  of  the  curtains  gleamed 
more  than  usually  bright  with  happy  tears.  She  leaned 
over  to  her  brother  and  kissed  him,  slightly  catching 
her  gown  in  the  material  of  the  curtain.  Each  made 
the  other  a  warning  gesture,  and  stood  quiet  for  a 
moment  under  the  faint  light  of  the  curtain,  as  if  they 
wished  still  to  remain  in  that  world  in  which  they  were 
shut  off  from  all  the  rest  of  the  universe.  Prince 
Andrei'  was  the  first  to  move  away  from  the  cradle,  get- 
ting his  head  entangled  in  the  muslin  of  the  curtain  as 
he  did  so. 

"  Yes,  that  is  all  that  is  left  me  now,"  said  he,  with  a 
sigh. 


270  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   X 

.  Shortly  after  his  reception  into  the  Masonic  brother- 
hood, Pierre,  with  full  written  instructions  given  him  for 
his  guidance  in  managing  his  estates,  reached  the  gov- 
ernment of  Kief,  where  the  larger  number  of  his  serfs 
were  to  be  found. 

When  he  reached  Kief,  he  summoned  all  his  over- 
seers, and  explained  his  intentions  and  desires.  He 
told  them  thar  measures  would  be  immediately  taken 
for  the  unconditional  emancipation  from  servitude  of 
all  his  serfs ;  that  till  this  were  done  the  peasants  must 
not  be  constrained  to  hard  work,  that  the  women  and 
children  must  not  be  required  to  work  at  all ;  that  assis- 
tance was  to  be  freely  rendered  the  peasantry ;  that 
corporal  punishments  were  not  to  be  employed,  but 
reprimands ;  and  that  on  each  of  his  estates,  hospitals, 
asylums,  and  schools  were  to  be  established. 

Some  of  the  overseers  —  and  in  the  number  were  half- 
educated  ekojioms,  or  stewards  —  listened  with  dismay, 
supposing  that  the  young  count's  speech  meant  that  he 
was  dissatisfied  with  their  management,  or  had  discov- 
ered how  they  had  been  embezzling  his  funds.  Others, 
after  their  first  panic,  found  amusement  in  Pierre's  thick, 
stumbling  speech,  and  the  new  words  which  they  had 
never  before  heard;  a  third  set  found  simply  a  certain 
sense  of  satisfaction  in  hearing  their  barin  talk;  a 
fourth,  and  these  were  the  sharpest,  and  at  their  head 
the  chief  overseer,  perceived  from  this  talk  how  it  be- 
hooved them  to  manage  with  their  barin,  in  order  to 
subserve  their  own  ends. 

The  chief  overseer  expressed  great  sympathy  in 
Pierre's  proposed  plans  ;  but  he  remarked  that,  over 
and  above  these  reforms,  it  was  indispensable  to  make 
a  general  investigation  of  his  affairs,  which  were  in 
a  sufficiently  unfortunate  state. 

In  spite  of  Count  Bezukhoi's  enormous  wealth  at  the 
time  when  Pierre  entered  upon  his  inheritance  —  and  it 
was  said  that  he  had  an  income  of  five  hundred  thousand 


WAR   AND    PEACE  271 

rubles  a  year — he  felt  himself  much  poorer  than  when  he 
received  an  allowance  of  ten  thousand  a  year  from  his 
late  father.  He  had  a  general  dim  idea  that  his  expenses 
were  somewhat  as  follows :  interest  to  the  *'  Society,"  ^ 
about  eighty  thousand  rubles,  on  all  his  possessions  ; 
about  thirty  thousand  stood  him  for  the  maintenance  of 
his  house  in  Moscow,  and  his  pod-Moskovnaya,  and  the 
support  of  the  three  princesses  ;  about  fifteen  thousand 
went  in  pensions ;  as  much  more  to  various  charitable 
institutions ;  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  were  put 
down  for  support  of  the  countess  ;  about  seventy  thou- 
sand went  in  interest  on  his  debts ;  the  building  of  a 
church  which  he  had  begun  two  years  before  cost  him 
about  ten  thousand  a  year  ;  the  rest,  not  far  from  one 
hundred  thousand,  was  expended,  he  himself  knew  not 
how,  and  almost  every  year  he  found  himself  obliged  to 
borrow.  Moreover,  each  year  his  chief  overseer  had 
written  to  him  about  fires,  about  bad  harvests,  about  the 
necessity  of  building  new  factories  and  works.  And 
thus  Pierre  was  at  the  very  first  confronted  by  what  he 
had  not  the  slightest  taste  or  capacity  for,  the  settle- 
ment of  his  affairs. 

Pierre  each  day  spent  some  time  with  his  chief  over- 
seer in  this  business ;  but  he  was  conscious  that  his 
efforts  did  not  advance  his  interests  a  single  step.  He 
was  conscious  that  his  efforts  were  wasted  on  this  busi- 
ness, that  they  did  not  have  the  slightest  influence  on 
his  affairs,  and  were  not  calculated  to  help  him  on  with 
his  schemes.  On  the  one  hand,  his  head  overseer 
pictured  his  affairs  in  the  gloomiest  colors,  pointing  out 
to  Pierre  the  absolute  necessity  of  paying  his  debts  and 
undertaking  new  enterprises  with  the  labor  of  his  peas- 
antry, a  thing  to  which  Pierre  refused  to  listen  ;  on  the 
other  hand,  Pierre  insisted  on  the  project  of  emancipat- 
ing his  serfs,  but  to  this  the  overseer  opposed  the  im- 
perious necessity  of  first  paying  the  mortgage  held  by 


1  Opekunsky  Sovyet,  Orphan's  Aid  Society,  the  famous  bank  supporte'd 
by  the  State,  that  loaned  money  on  land  and  personal  property,  including 
serfs. 


272  WAR    AND    PEACE 

the  Society,  and  consequently  the  impossibility  of  ac« 
complishing  the  business  rapidly. 

The  overseer  did  not  say  that  this  was  absolutely 
impossible;  he  proposed,  for  bringing  this  about,  the 
selling  of  certain  forests  in  the  government  of  Kos- 
troma, some  river  lands,  and  an  estate  in  the  Crimea. 
But  all  these  operations  proposed  by  the  overseer 
entailed  complicated  legal  proceedings,  replevins,  per- 
mits, licenses,  and  so  forth,  so  that  Pierre  quite  lost  his 
wits,  and  merely  said,  "Yes,  yes,  do  so,  then." 

Pierre  was  not  possessed  of  that  practical  bent  for 
business  which  would  have  enabled  him  to  grasp  the 
whole  matter  immediately,  and  consequently  he  disliked 
it  all,  and  merely  pretended  to  take  an  interest  in  it  in 
the  overseer's  presence.  The  overseer,  on  his  side, 
pretended  to  consider  all  these  efforts  advantageous 
for  the  proprietor,  and  troublesome  for  himself. 

In  the  large  city  of  Kief,  the  capital  of  the  province, 
Pierre  had  some  acquaintances;  those  whom  he  did  not 
know  made  haste  to  pay  their  respects  to  him,  and 
gladly  welcomed  the  millionaire,  the  largest  landowner 
of  the  whole  government.  The  temptations  that 
assailed  Pierre  in  his  principal  weakness  —  as  he  had 
confessed  at  the  time  of  his  entrance  into  the  lodge  — 
were  also  so  powerful  that  he  could  not  resist  them. 
Again,  whole  days,  weeks,  months,  of  his  life  sped  away 
constantly  occupied  with  parties,  dinners,  breakfasts, 
balls,  just  as  it  had  been  in  Petersburg,  so  that  he  had 
no  time  whatever  for  serious  thoughts.  Instead  of  the 
new  life  which  he  had  hoped  to  lead,  he  still  went  on 
with  the  same  old  routine,  only  in  different  surroundings. 

Of  the  three  obligations  of  Freemasonry,  Pierre 
acknowledged  that  he  was  not  fulfilling  the  one  that 
enjoined  upon  every  Mason  to  be  a  model  of  moral  liv- 
ing ;  and  of  the  seven  precepts  of  virtue,  two  he  had 
not  taken  to  heart,  —  virtuous  living  and  love  for  death. 
He  comforted  himself  with  the  thought  that  he  was 
fulfilling  one  of  the  other  obligations,  the  reformation 
of  the  human  race,  and  that  he  possessed  the  other 
virtues,  love  of  his  neighbor,  and  particularly  generosity. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  273 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1807  Pierre  determined  to 
return  to  Petersburg,  making  on  his  way  a  visit  to  all  of 
his  possessions,  so  as  to  assure  himself  as  to  what  had 
been  done  toward  carrying  out  his  orders,  and  per- 
sonally to  learn  in  what  condition  lived  the  peasantry 
intrusted  to  him  by  God,  and  whom  he  was  striving  to 
benefit. 

His  head  overseer,  who  considered  all  of  the  young 
count's  ideas  as  perfectly  chimerical,  —  disadvantageous 
for  himself,  for  him,  for  the  peasants  themselves,  —  had 
made  some  concessions.  Though  he  still  represented 
that  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  was  an  impossibility, 
He  had  made  arrangements  for  the  extensive  erection,  on 
all  the  estates,  of  schools,  hospitals,  and  asylums,  against 
the  coming  of  the  barin ;  everywhere  he  made  arrange- 
ments for  receptions,  not,  to  be  sure,  on  a  sumptuous 
and  magnificent  scale  which  he  knew  would  displease 
the  young  count,  but  rather  semi-religious  and  thanks- 
giving processions,  with  sacred  images  and  the  tradi- 
tional kJilyeb-sol,  —  or  bread  and  salt,  —  the  Russian 
symbol  of  hospitality ;  such  demonstrations,  in  fact,  as 
he  was  certain  from  his  knowledge  of  his  barin's  char- 
acter would  deeply  touch  him  and  delude  him. 

The  southern  spring,  the  comfortable,  rapid  journey- 
in  his  Vienna  calash,  and  the  lonely  roads  had  made  a 
most  pleasant  impression  on  Pierre.  These  estates,  none 
of  which  he  had  ever  seen  before,  were  each  more 
picturesque  than  the  other ;  the  peasantry  everywhere 
appeared  prosperous  and  touchingly  grateful  to  him  for 
the  benefits  which  he  was  heaping  upon  them.  Every- 
where they  met  him  with  processions  and  receptions, 
which,  though  they  embarrassed  him,  filled  his  heart  with 
a  pleasant  sensation. 

In  one  place,  the  peasants  brought  him  the  khlyeb-sol 
and  a  holy  picture  of  Peter  and  Paul,  and  besought  his 
permission  to  add,  at  their  own  expense,  in  honor  of  his 
name-day  and  as  a  sign  of  their  love  and  gratitude  to 
him  for  the  benefits  conferred  upon  them,  a  new  chantry 
to  the  church. 

In  another  place  he  was  met  by  women  with  children 

VOL.  II. — 18 


274  WAR   AND    PEACE 

at  the  Dreast,  who  thanked  him  for  freeing  them  from 
hard  work. 

On  a  third  estate  he  was  met  by  a  priest  carrying  a 
cross  and  surrounded  by  children,  to  whom,  through  the 
count's  UberaUty,  he  was  teaching  reading  and  reUgion. 

On  all  his  estates  he^saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  mas- 
sive stone  foundations  of  edifices  for  hospitals,  schools, 
and  almshouses,  building  or  almost  built,  and  ready  to 
be  opened  in  a  short  time.  Everywhere  Pierre  saw  from 
the  accounts  of  his  overseers  that  enforced  labor  had 
been  greatly  reduced  from  what  it  had  been,  and  he 
listened  to  the  affecting  expressions  of  gratitude  from 
deputations  of  serfs  in  their  blue  kaftans. 

But  Pierre  had  no  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  where 
he  had  been  met  with  the  bread  and  salt,  and  where  they 
were  building  the  chantry  of  Peter  and  Paul,  it  was  a 
commercial  village  where  2i  yarniarka,  or  annual  bazaar, 
was  held  on  Saint  Peter's  day ;  that  the  chantry  had 
been  begun  long  before  by  some  well-to-do  muzhiks  of 
the  village,  the  very  ones  in  fact  who  came  to  meet  him, 
while  nine-tenths  of  the  peasants  of  this  same  village 
lived  in  the  profoundest  destitution. 

He  did  not  know  that  in  consequence  of  his  order  to 
cease  employing  nursing  women  at  work  on  his  fields, 
these  very  same  women  were  forced  to  do  vastly  harder 
work  on  their  own  lots  of  communal  land.  He  did  not 
know  that  the  priest  who  came  to  meet  him  with  his 
cross  oppressed  the  muzhiks  with  his  exactions,  and  that 
the  pupils  who  accompanied  him  were  placed  with  him 
at  the  cost  of  tears,  and  were  often  ransomed  back  by 
their  parents  for  large  sums  of  money. 

He  did  not  know  that  the  edifices  built,  according  to 
his  plan,  of  stone  were  the  work  of  his  own  laborers,  and 
greatly  increased  the  forced  service  of  his  serfs,  which 
was  really  diminished  only  on  paper. 

He  did  not  know  that  where  the  overseers  pointed  out 
to  him  on  the  books  the  reduction  of  the  serfs'  obroks^ 
or  money  payments,  by  one-third,  the  consequence  was 
that  an  amount  corresponding  was  added  to  the  forced 
labor  of  the  peasantry. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  275 

And  so  Pierre  was  in  raptures  over  his  tour  among  his 
estates,  and  he  fell  back  fully  into  that  philanthropical 
frame  of  mind  in  which  he  had  left  Petersburg,  and  he 
wrote  enthusiastic  letters  to  his  *'  preceptor-brother," 
as  he  called  the  Grand  Master. 

"  How  easy  it  is,  how  little  strength  it  requires,  to  do 
so  much  good,"  said  Pierre  to  himself.  "And  how  little 
we  trouble  ourselves  about  it !  " 

He  was  happy  over  the  gratitude,  but  felt  mortified  to 
be  the  recipient  of  it.  This  gratitude  made  him  think 
how  very  much  more  he  might  have  easily  done  for 
these  simple-hearted,  kindly  people. 

The  chief  overseer,  a  thoroughly  obstinate  and  wily 
man,  perfectly  comprehending  the  intelligent  but  inno- 
cent young  count,  and  playing  with  him  as  with  a  toy, 
when  he  saw  the  effect  produced  upon  him  by  the 
receptions  that  he  had  himself  so  skilfully  arranged, 
approached  him  all  the  more  resolutely  with  arguments 
for  the  impossibility,  and,  above  all,  the  uselessness,  of 
emancipating  the  serfs,  who  were  perfectly  happy  and 
contented  as  they  were. 

Pierre  in  the  depths  of  his  soul  agreed  with  the  over- 
seer that  it  would  be  hard  to  imagine  people  more  happy 
and  contented,  and  that  God  only  knew  what  would 
happen  to  them  if  they  had  their  freedom  ;  but  still, 
though  against  his  better  judgment,  he  insisted  upon 
what  he  felt  was  only  justice. 

The  overseer  promised  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  carry 
out  the  count's  desires,  clearly  comprehending  that  the 
count  would  never  be  in  a  position  to  assure  hituoclf 
whether  all  his  plans  for  the  disposal  of  his  forests  and 
other  lands  for  the  sake  of  redeeming  his  mortgages  to 
the  Society  had  been  carried  out,  or  would  ever  ask  or 
know  how  his  costly  edifices  would  stand  empt);  and 
the  peasants  would  continue  to  contribute  their  labor 
and  money,  just  the  same  as  they  did  on  other  estates, 
that  is,  the  utmost  that  they  could  give. 


276  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER   XI 

On  his  return  from  his  southern  journey,  in  the  hap 
piest  frame  of  mind,  Pierre  carried  out  his  long-cherished 
purpose  of  going  to  make  a  visit  to  his  old  friend  Bolkon- 
sky,  whom  he  had  not  seen  for  two  years. 

Bogucharovo  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  flat  and 
uninteresting  region,  diversified  with  fields  and  forests 
of  birch  and  evergreens,  cleared  and  uncleared.  The 
barsky  dvor,  or  proprietor's  place,  was  situated  at  one 
end  of  the  straggling  village  which  extended  along  on 
both  sides  of  the  straight  highway.  In  front  was  a 
pond,  recently  dug  and  filled  with  water,  though  the 
grass  had  not  yet  had  a  chance  to  grow  on  the  banks 
around ;  the  house  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  young  grove, 
some  of  the  trees  of  which  were  pines  and  firs. 

The  barsky  dvor  consisted  of  a  granary  and  threshing- 
floor,  the  house-servants'  quarters,  the  stable,  a  bath- 
house, and  the  wings  of  a  great  stone  mansion,  the 
semicircular  fagade  of  which  was  building.  Around  the 
house  a  young  garden  was  planted.  The  fences  were 
strong  and  the  paths  were  new  ;  under  a  shed  stood  two 
fire-engines  and  a  barrel,  painted  a  vivid  green.  The 
paths  were  straight,  the  bridges  were  well  built  and  had 
railings.  Everything  bore  the  impress  of  extreme  care 
and  good  management. 

The  house-serfs  who  met  Pierre,  in  answer  to  his 
question  where  the  prince  lived,  pointed  to  a  small  build- 
ing standing  at  the  very  edge  of  the  pond.  Prince 
Andrei's  old  body-servant,  Anton,  helped  Pierre  down 
from  the  calash,  told  him  that  the  prince  was  at  home, 
and  led  him  into  a  neat  little  anteroom. 

Pierre  was  struck  by  the  modesty  of  this  diminutive, 
though  scrupulously  clean,  little  house,  after  the  brill- 
iant conditions  of  existence  in  which  he  had  last  seen 
his  friend  in  Petersburg.  He  hurriedly  went  into  a  small 
hall,  smelling  of  pine  and  not  even  plastered,  and  was 
about  to  go  farther,  but  Anton  preceded  him  on  his 
tiptoes  and  knocked  at  the  door. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  277 

**  Now  who  's  there  ?  "  was  the  reply,  in  a  harsh,  for- 
bidding voice. 

"  A  visitor,"  repHed  Anton. 

"Ask  him  to  wait ;  "  and  the  noise  of  a  chair  pushed 
back  was  heard.  Pierre  went  with  swift  steps  to  the 
door  and  met  Prince  Andref  face  to  face,  as  he  came 
out,  frowning  and  looking  older  than  his  years. 

Pierre  threw  his  arms  around  him,  pushing  up  his 
spectacles,  kissed  him  on  the  cheeks,  and  looked  at  him 
closely. 

'*  Well,  this  is  a  surprise ;  very  glad  to  see  you,"  said 
Prince  Andrei'.  Pierre  said  nothing  ;  he  was  gazing  at 
his  friend  in  amazement,  not  taking  his  eyes  from  him. 
He  was  struck  by  the  change  that  had  taken  place  in 
Prince  Andrei.  His  words  were  affectionate  ;  there  was 
a  smile  on  his  lips  and  face,  but  his  eyes  were  dim  and 
lifeless,  in  spite  of  his  evident  desire  to  make  them 
seem  to  have  a  joyous  and  lively  light.  His  friend  was 
not  so  much  disturbed  that  he  had  grown  thinner  and 
paler,  but  this  expression  of  his  eyes  and  the  frown  on 
his  brow,  the  evidence  of  long-continued  concentration 
on  some  one  painful  topic,  amazed  and  estranged  Pierre, 
who  was  not  used  to  see  him  so. 

As  usual,  on  meeting  after  a  long  separation,  it  took 
some  time  to  get  the  conversation  into  running  order  ; 
they  asked  and  answered  various  questions  briefly  in 
regard  to  things  which  both  knew  they  should  have  to 
talk  about  afterward  at  length.  At  last  they  began 
to  settle  down  a  little  more  on  what  they  had  already 
touched  upon,  what  had  taken  place  in  the  past,  and 
their  plans  for  the  future,  about  Pierre's  journey,  his 
undertakings,  the  war,  and  other  topics. 

That  concentration  and  lifelessness  which  Pierre  had 
already  remarked  in  Prince  Andrew's  eyes  was  now  ex- 
pressed still  more  noticeably  in  the  smile  with  which  he 
listened  to  Pierre,  especially  when  he  spoke  with  anima- 
tion of  the  past  or  the  future. 

It  seemed  as  if  Prince  Andret  were  trying,  but  without 
success,  to  feel  an  interest  in  what  he  said.  Pierre  was 
beginning   to   feel  that  it  was  in  bad  taste   in  Prince 


2/8       .  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Andrei's  presence  to  speak  of  his  enthusiasms,  dreams, 
hopes  of  happiness,  and  of  doing  good.  He  was  ashamed 
to  tell  about  his  new  notions  concerning  Freemasonry, 
which  had  been  especially  renewed  and  excited  during 
the  latter  part  of  his  journey.  He  restrained  himself 
for  fear  of  seeming  naive ;  at  the  same  time  he  had  an 
irresistible  desire  to  tell  his  friend  as  soon  as  possible 
that  now  he  was  an  entirely  different  and  much  better 
man  than  he  had  been  when  he  had  known  him  in 
Petersburg. 

**  I  cannot  tell  you  what  I  have  lived  through  since 
then.     I  should  not  know  myself." 

**  Yes,  yes,  we  have  changed  much  since  that  time," 
said  Prince  Andrei. 

**  Well,  and  you,"  asked  Pierre ;  "  what  are  your 
plans  .?  " 

"  Plans ! "  repeated  Prince  Andrei,  in  an  ironical 
tone ;  **  my  plans !  "  he  repeated  again,  as  if  he  were  as- 
tonished at  such  a  word,  "you  can  see  for  yourself,  I  am 
building;  I  intend  next  year  to  come  here  for  good."  .... 

Pierre  said  nothing,  but  still  looked  attentively  at 
Prince  Andrei's  aged  face. 

'*  No,  I  wanted  to  ask,"  said  he,  but  Prince  Andreif 
interrupted  him. 

"  But  what  is  the  use  of  talking  about  me  ?  —  Tell  me, 
oh,  yes,  tell  me  about  your  journey,  —  all  about  what 
you  expect  to  accomplish  on  your  estates." 

Pierre  began  to  tell  him  what  he  had  been  doing  for 
his  peasantry,  trying  to  conceal,  as  far  as  possible,  his 
own  part  in  the  improvements  made. 

Prince  Andrei  several  times  finished  Pierre's  descrip- 
tion for  him,  as  if  all  that  Pierre  had  done  were  an  old 
story  ;  and  he  seemed  to  listen,  not  only  without  interest, 
but  even  as  if  he  felt  ashamed  at  what  Pierre  told  him. 
Pierre  began  to  feel  awkward  and  uncomfortable  in  his 
friend's  society.     He  stopped  talking. 

"  Now  see  here,  my  dear  fellow,  — dusha  moyaj'  said 
Prince  Andrei,  who  evidently  found  it  just  as  uncom- 
fortable and  irksome  in  his  guest's  society,  "  I  am  only 
camping  out  here,  as  it  were....  came  over  simply  to  see 


WAR    AND    PEACE  279 

low  things  were  going.  I  am  going  back  to-night  to 
;iiy  sister's.  If  you  will  go  back  with  me,  I  '11  introduce 
you  to  her.  Oh,  but  I  think  you  know  her,"  he  added, 
evidently  trying  to  think  of  something  to  amuse  a  guest 
with  whom  he  felt  that  he  had  nothing  in  common  ;  ''  we 
will  start  after  dinner.  But  now  would  you  like  to  look 
around  my  premises  .?  " 

They  went  out  and  returned  to  the  house  in  time  for 
dinner,  talking  of  the  political  news,  and  of  their  com- 
mon acquaintances,  like  men  who  cared  very  little  for 
each  other.  Prince  Andrei  spoke  with  animation  and 
interest  only  in  regard  to  the  new  farmhouses  and  other 
buildings  which  he  was  having  constructed  ;  but  even 
here,  in  the  midst  of  their  conversation,  and  while  they 
were  on  the  scaffolding,  and  he  was  describing  the  pro- 
jected arrangements  of  the  house,  he  suddenly  paused : 

"However,  there  is  nothing  very  interesting  about 
this;  let  us  go  to  dinner  and  then  start." 

At  the  dinner-table  the  talk  turned  on  Pierre's  marriage. 

*'  I  was  very  much  amazed  when  I  heard  about  it," 
said  Prince  Andrei. 

Pierre  flushed,  as  he  usually  did  when  it  was  men- 
tioned, and  said  hurriedly  :  — 

*'  I  will  tell  you  sometime  how  it  all  happened.  But 
you  know  that  it  is  all  over  and  forever." 

"  Forever  .?  "  queried  Prince  Andrei,  ''there  is  no  such 
thing  as  forever  !  " 

"  But  you  know,  don't  you,  how  it  all  ended  ?     You 
heard  about  the  duel.^ " 
'  "  And  so  you  had  to  go  through  that,  also  !  " 

"  There  is  one  thing  that  I  thank  God  for,  and  that  is 
that  I  did  not  kill  that  man,"  said  Pierre. 

"  Why  so  .?  "  asked  Prince  Andrei ;  "  to  kill  a  mad  dog 
is  a  very  good  thing." 

"  No,  but  to  kill  a  man  is  not  good  —  not  right." 

"  Why  is  it  not  right .?  "  urged  Prince  Andrei'.  "  It  is 
not  for  men  to  judge  what  is  right  and  wrong.  Men 
have  always  been  in  error,  and  always  will  be  in  error, 
and  in  nothing  more  than  in  what  they  consider  to  be 
right  and  wrong." 


28o  WAR   AND    PEACE 

''  Wrong-  is  whatever  is  harmful  to  our  fellow-men," 
said  Pierre,  with  a  sense  of  satisfaction  that  now,  for  the 
first  time  since  his  arrival,  Prince  Andrei'  had  really 
brightened  up  and  begun  to  talk,  and  was  on  the  way 
to  disclosing  what  had  made  him  so  different  from  what 
he  used  to  be. 

**  And  who  has  ever  told  you  what  is  harmful  for  an- 
other man  ?  "  asked  Bolkonsky. 

"Harmful!  harmful!"  exclaimed  Pierre,  "we  all 
know  what  that  means  for  ourselves." 

'I  Yes,  we  know  what  is  bad  for  ourselves,  but  that 
which  is  bad  for  myself  may  not  be  bad  for  another 
man,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  growing  more  and  more 
animated  He  added  in  French  :  "I  know  of  only  two 
real  evils  in  life  —  remorse  and  illness.  There  is  noth- 
ing good  except  the  absence  of  these  evils.  To  live  for 
myself,  avoiding  only  these  two  evils,  is  at  present  all 
my  philosophy." 

"  But  how  about  love  for  your  neighbor,  and  self- 
sacrifice  ?  "  protested  Pierre;  "no,  I  cannot  agree  with 
you.  It  is  a  very  little  thing  to  live  merely  so  as  not 
to  do  evil,  merely  to  be  free  from  remorse.  I  have 
lived  in  that  way ;  I  have  lived  for  myself,  and  I  have 
wasted  my  life.  And  now  only  that  I  am  living,  I 
mean  trying  to  live,  for  others"  — Pierre  corrected  himself 
out  of  modesty  —  "  only  now  do  I  realize  the  full  happi- 
ness of  life.  No,  I  cannot  agree  with  you;  and  you 
yourself  do  not  mean  what  you  say." 

Prince  Andrei  looked  silently  at  Pierre,  and  smiled 
satirically. 

"  Well,  you  are  going  to  see  my  sister,  the  Princess 
Mariya.  You  and  she  will  agree,"  said  he.  "  Maybe 
you  are  right  as  far  as  you  are  concerned,"  he  went  on 
to  say,  after  a  short  silence,  "  but  every  one  must  work 
out  his  own  life.  You  have  lived  for  yourself,  and  de- 
clare that  you  have  almost  wasted  your  life  by  this 
course,  and  you  have  found  happiness  only  when  you 
began  to  live  for  others.  But  my  experience  has  been 
exactly  the  opposite.  I  have  lived  for  glory  —  and 
what  is  glory  ?     Is  it  not  love  for  others,  the  desire  to 


WAR   AND    PEACE  281 

do  something  for  them,  the  yearning  for  their  applause  ? 
And  in  that  way  I  have  lived  for  others,  and  have  not 
almost,  but  wholly,  wasted  my  life.  But  only  since  I 
have  begun  to  live  for  myself  alone,  have  I  begun  to 
feel  more  satisfied." 

"  But  how  can  you  live  for  yourself  alone  ? "  asked 
Pierre,  growing  heated;  "there  are  your  son,  your  sister, 
your  father!  " 

"Ah,  yes;  but  they  are  the  same  as  myself,  they  are 
not  'other  people,'"  explained  Prince  Andrei;  "but 
others,  neighbors,  le  prochain,  as  you  and  the  Princess 
Mariya  express  it,  —  they  are  the  chief  fountain-head  of 
error  and  evil.  Le  prochain,  your  neighbor,  is,  for 
instance,  those  Kief  muzhiks  of  yours,  whom  you  are 
trying  to  load  with  benefits." 

And  he  looked  at  Pierre  with  a  provokingly  satirical 
expression.     It  evidently  provoked  Pierre. 

"You  are  jesting,"  said  Pierre,  who  was  constantly 
growing  more  and  more  excited;  "how  can  there  be 
error  and  evil  in  what  I  have  desired— the  accomplish- 
ment has  been  very  trifling  and  wretched  ;  but  I  mean 
in  what  I  have  desired  to  do  in  the  way  of  benefiting 
them,  and  have  accomplished  in  some  small  measure .? 
What  possible  evil  can  there  be  in  poor  men,  like  our 
muzhiks,  men  just  like  ourselves,  who  grow  up  and 
perish  without  any  comprehension  of  God  and  right, 
beyond  mere  forms  and  meaningless  prayers,  being 
taught  the  consoling  belief  in  a  future  life,  in  rewards 
and  compensations  and  joys  to  come.?  Pray  what  evil 
or  error  is  there  when  men  are  dying  of  maladies  with- 
out succor,  and  when  it  is  so  easy  to  help  them  materi- 
ally, in  my  giving  them  medicine  and  a  hospital,  and  a 
refuge  for  old  age  ?  And  is  it  not  a  palpable  and  un- 
questionable benefit  that  when  the  muzhiks,  the  nursing 
women,  have  no  rest  either  day  or  night,  and  I  give  them 
leisure  and  recreation  .? "  said  Pierre,  stammering  in  his 
efforts  to  talk  fast  and  keep  up  with  his  thoughts. 
"  And  I  have  done  this,  stupidly  enough,  feebly  enough, 
but  at  all  events  I  have  done  something  toward  it,  and 
you  will  fail  to  persuade  me  either  that  what  I  have 


282  WAR    AND    PEACE 

done  is  not  good,  or  that  you  yourself  have  any  such 
notion.  And  above  all,"  proceeded  Pierre,  "  I  know 
and  am  firmly  persuaded  that  the  pleasure  of  doing  good 
in  this  way  is  the  only  true  happiness  that  life  affords." 
"Yes,  if  you  propound  the  question  in  that  way,  you 
make  an  entirely  different  one  out  of  it,"  said  Prince 
Andrei.  •'  I  am  building  a  house,  I  am  laying  out  a 
garden,  and  you  are  erecting  hospitals  ;  and  some  one 
else  might  come  along  and  argue  that  both  were  a  waste 
of  time.  But  the  decision  as  to  what  is  right  and  what 
IS  good  let  us  leave  to  Him  who  knows  all  things,  and 
not  try  to  decide  it  for  ourselves.  But  I  see  that  you 
want  to  argue  the  question."  He  added,  "Give  it  to 
us,  then." 

They  had  left  the  table  and  were  sitting  on  a  flight  of 
steps  which  took  the  place  of  a  balcony. 

"Well,  let  us  have  the  discussion,  then,"  said  Prince 
Andrei.  "You  speak  of  schools,"  he  went  on  to  say, 
bending  one  finger,  "  and  of  education  and  so  on ;  that 
is,  you  wish  to  take  such  a  m.an  as  that  "  — pointing  to 
a  muzhik,  who,  as  he  passed  by  them,  pulled  off  his  hat 
—  "  and  lift  him  from  his  animal  existence  and  give  him 
moral  necessities ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  his  only  pos- 
sible happiness  is  his  animal  enjoyment,  and  that  you 
want  to  deprive  him  of.  I  envy  him  ;  you  want  to  make 
him  like  me.  You  say  another  thing :  you  propose  to 
free  him  from  work,  but  in  my  opinion  physical  labor  is 
for  him  as  much  a  necessity,  as  much  a  condition  of  his 
existence,  as  intellectual  labor  is  for  you  or  me.  You 
cannot  help  thinking.  I  go  to  bed  at  three  o'clock; 
thoughts  crowd  in  upon  me  and  I  keep  turning  and 
twisting,  and  it  is  morning  before  sleep  comes,  and  the 
reason  is  because  I  am  thinking  and  cannot  help  think- 
ing, just  as  he  cannot  help  plowing  and  mowing;  if  he 
did  not  he  would  go  to  the  tavern  or  make  himself  ill. 
Just  as  I  could  not  endure  his  terrible  physical  labor, 
and  should  die  within  a  week,  so  he  could  not  endure 
my  physical  idleness  ;  he  would  grow  stout  and  die.  In 
the  third  place,  —  but  what  was  your  third  point.?" 
Prince  Andrei"  began  to  double  down  his  third  finger. 


WAR    AND    PEACE  283 

''  Oh,  yes,  hospitals,  medicines.  Well,  he  has  a  stroke 
and  dies,  but  you  would  bleed  him,  and  cure  him,  and 
he  would  drag  out  a  crippled  existence  for  ten  years 
more,  a  burden  to  every  one.  It  is  far  easier  and 
simpler  for  him  to  die.  Others  are  born,  and  there  are 
so  many  of  them  to  take  his  place!  If  it  were  merely 
that  you  were  sorry  for  the  loss  of  a  good  workman, 
that  would  be  a  different  thing,  — for  that's  the  way 
I  look  at  it,  but  you  want  to  cure  him  out  of  mere  love 
for  him.  And  that  is  not  'necessary  so  far  as^  he  is 
concerned;  and  then,  besides,  what  a  delusion  it  is  that 
medicine  ever  anywhere  cured  any  one  !  You  might 
rather  call  it  murder!"  said  he,  frowning  with  disgust 
and  turning  from  Pierre. 

Prince  Andrei  expressed  his  thoughts  with  such  clear- 
ness and  precision  that  it  was  evident  he  had  thought 
on  these  questions,  and  he  spoke  fluently  and  rapidly, 
like  a  man  who  has  not  had  for  a  long  time  a  chance  to 
express  his  thoughts.  His  eyes  kept  growing  more  and 
more  animated,  in  proportion  as  his  ideas  became  pessi- 
mistic. 

"  Akh  !  this  is  horrible,  horrible  !  "  exclaimed  Pierre. 
"  What  I  cannot  understand  is  how  you  can  live,  hold- 
ing such  opinions.  Such  moments  of  despair  have 
come  to  me,  but  that  was  long,  long  ago  at  Moscow 
and  abroad,  but  at  such  times  I  go  down  into  the  depths 
so  that  I  cease  to  live  ;  everything  is  disgusting  to  me  .... 
myself  above  all !     At  such  times  I  do  not  eat,  or  wash 

myself Well,  is  that  the  way  with  you  .?  " 

**  Why  should  n't  I  wash  myself  .?  It  is  n't  cleanly  !  " 
retorted  Prince  Andrei.  ''  On  the  contrary,  I  have  to 
struggle  to  make  my  life  as  agreeable  as  possible.  I  am 
alive  and  I  am  not  to  blame  for  that,  and  so  it  behooves 
me  to  make  the  best  of  it,  not  interfering  with  anybody 
else  until  death  carries  me  off !  " 

'*  But  what  on  earth  induces  you  to  live,  cherishing 
such  notions .?  Do  you  really  intend  to  sit  down  doing 
nothing,  without  undertaking  anything  .?  " 

"  Even  thus,  life  refuses  to  let  me  be  in  peace !  I 
should  be  glad  enough  to  do  nothing,  but  here  on  the 


284  WAR    AND    PEACE 

one  hai  d  the  nobility  of  the  district  have  done  me  the 
honor  of  electing  me  their  marshal.  I  barely  got  out  of 
it.  They  could  not  understand  that  I  had  not  a  single 
qualification  for  the  office,  not  a  bit  of  that  peculiarly 
good-natured  and  commonplace  indefatigability  which 
is  needed  for  it.  And  then  there  is  this  house  which  I 
had  to  build,  so  as  to  have  my  own  little  nook  where 
I  could  be  free  and  easy.  And  then,  again,  there  is  the 
militia....  " 

'*  Why  don't  you  serve  in  the  army  .<*" 

"After  Austerlitz  !  "  exclaimed  Prince  AndreY,  gloom- 
ily. "  No,  I  thank  you  humbly,  but  I  have  vowed  that 
I  would  never  again  serve  in  the  Russian  army.  I 
would  not,  even  if  Bonaparte  were  here  at  Smolensk, 
threatening  Luisiya  Gorui ;  no,  not  even  then  would  I 
serve  in  the  Russian  army.  There,  now  I  have  told 
you,"  proceeded  Prince  Andrei*,  growing  calmer.  "  But 
there  is  the  militia ;  my  father  is  commander-in-chief 
of  the  third  district,  and  the  only  way  that  I  could  avoid 
joining  the  army  again  was  to  be  with  him." 

**  So  you  are  in  the  service  after  all  ? " 

"Yes,  I  am." 

He  was  silent  for  a  little. 

"  But  why  are  you.?  " 

"  This  is  why.  My  father  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able men  of  his  age,  but  he  has  grown  old,  and  while 
he  is  not  exactly  cruel,  he  has  too  active  a  nature.  He 
is  so  used  to  unlimited  power  that  it  makes  him  terrible, 
and  now  he  has  the  power  granted  him  by  the  emperor 
as  commander-in-chief  of  the  militia.  If  I  had  been 
two  hours  late,  a  fortnight  ago,  he  would  have  hanged 
a  registry  clerk  at  Yukhnovo,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  with 
a  smile,  "  and  so  I  serve  because  no  one  but  me  has  any 
influence  over  him,  and  I  often  save  him  from  acts  which 
he  would  be  sorry  for  afterwards." 

"Ah,  there  now,  you  see !  " 

"  Yes,  but  it  is  not  as  you  understand  it,"  retorted 
Prince  Andrei  in  French.  "  It  was  not  that  I  wasted 
any  sympathy  on  the  rascal  of  a  clerk,  who  had  been 
stealing  boots  from  the  militia.     As  far  as  he  was  con- 


WAR    AND    PEACE  285 

cerned,  I  should  have  been  glad  enough  if  he  had  been 
hanged ;  but  I  should  have  felt  sorry  for  my  father, 
which  is  the  same  thing  as  for  myself." 

Prince  Andreif  was  again  growing  more  and  more 
excited.  His  eyes  sparkled  with  a  feverish  light,  as  he 
tried  to  prove  to  Pierre  that  his  action  had  nothing 
whatever  of  philanthropy  in  it. 

"  Well,  now,  look  here,  you  want  to  free  your  serfs," 
he  went  on  to  say ;  "  that  is  a  very  good  thing,  but  not 
for  you  —  for  you  never  flogged  any  one  or  sent  any 
one  to  Siberia  —  and  still  less  advantageous  for  your 
peasants.  If  they  are  beaten  and  flogged  and  sent  to 
Siberia,  I  imagine  it  does  them  no  special  harm.  The 
peasant  leads  in  Siberia  that  same  cattle-like  existence 
of  his,  and  his  scars  heal  over  and  he  is  just  as  happy 
as  he  was  before.  Now  this  might  be  a  good  thing  for 
those  who  are  morally  perishing,  who  are  preparing  for 
themselves  an  old  age  of  remorse,  who  try  to  stifle  this 
remorse  and  become  cruel  and  severe,  for  the  reason 
that  they  have  the  power  of  punishing  either  justly  or 
unjustly.  That's  why  I  pity  any  one,  and  in  such  a 
case  should  desire  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs.  Per- 
haps you  have  never  seen,  but  I  have,  —  how  good  men, 
educated  in  these  traditions  of  unlimited  power,  as  they 
grow  old  and  irritable,  grow  cruel  and  harsh,  and  are 
aware  of  it  and  cannot  help  themselves,  and  so  become 
ever  more  and  more  unhappy." 

Prince  Andrei  said  this  with  so  much  feeling,  that 
Pierre  could  not  avoid  conjecturing  that  these  ideas  of 
Prince  Andrei's  were  suggested  by  his  own  father.  He 
said  nothing  in  reply. 

"And  this  is  what  I  lament  over:  human  dignity, 
peace  of  mind,  and  purity,  and  not  men's  backs  and 
heads,  —  which,  however  much  they  be  flogged  and 
shaved,  will  still  remain  nothing  but  backs  and  heads 
still." 

**  No,  no,  a  thousand  times  no,  I  never  should  agree 
with  you!  "  cried  Pierre. 


286  WAR   AND    PEACE 


CHAPTER  XII 

In  the  afternoon,  Prince  Andref  and  Pierre  got  into 
the  calash  and  started  for  Luisiya  Gorui.  Prince  Andrei 
occasionally  glanced  at  Pierre  and  broke  the  silence 
with  remarks,  showing  that  he  was  now  in  the  very 
happiest  frame  of  mind. 

Pointing  to  the  fields,  he  told  him  about  his  agricul- 
tural improvements. 

Pierre  preserved  a  moody  silence,  replied  in  mono- 
syllables, and  seemed  to  be  immersed  in  his  thoughts. 

Pierre  felt  that  Prince  Andrei  was  unhappy,  that  he 
was  deluding  himself,  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the  true 
light,  and  that  it  was  his  duty  to  come  to  his  aid,  to 
enlighten  him,  and  lift  him  up.  But  as  soon  as.  Pierre 
tried  to  think  what  and  how  he  should  speak,  he  was 
seized  with  the  consciousness  that  Prince  Andrei,  by  a 
single  word,  by  a  single  argument,  might  destroy  every- 
thing in  his  teaching,  and  he  was  afraid  to  begin ;  he  was 
afraid  of  exposing  to  the  possibility  of  ridicule  the  beloved 
Ark  of  his  convictions. 

*' No,  but  why  do  you  think  so.'*"  suddenly  began 
Pierre,  lowering  his  head,  and  taking  the  aspect  of  a 
bull  about  to  charge.  "  Why  do  you  think  so  ?  You 
have  no  right  to  think  so !  " 

**  To  think  how  ?  "  asked  Prince  Andrei,  in  amazement 

"  About  life,  about  man's  destiny.  It  cannot  be.  I 
used  to  think  exactly  the  same  way,  and  do  you  know 
what  saved  me  .''  —  Freemasonry  !  No,  don't  smile  ! 
Freemasonry  is  not  a  religious,  a  ceremonial  sect,  as  I 
once  supposed,  but  it  is  something  much  better,  it  is  the 
one  expression  of  the  best,  of  the  eternal,  in  humanity." 

And  Pierre  began  to  expound  Freemasonry  to  Prince 
Andreif  as  he  understood  it. 

He  declared  that  Freemasonry,  was  the  doctrine  of 
Christianity  freed  from  political  and  religious  bonds, 
the  doctrine  of  equality,  fraternity,  and  love. 

*'  Our  sacred  brotherhood  only  has  a  practical  con- 
ception of  life  ;  everything  else  is  visionary,"  said  Pierre. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  287 

**  You  must  comprehend,  my  friend,  that  outside  of  this 
fraternity  everything  is  full  of  falsehood  and  deception, 
and  I  agree  with  you  that  for  an  intelligent  and  good 
man  nothing  is  left  except  to  live  out  his  life  as  you  do, 
merely  striving  not  to  interfere  with  any  one.  But  once 
adopt  our  fundamental  principles,  join  our  confraternity, 
come  with  us  heart  and  soul,  allow  yourself  to  be  guided, 
and  you  will  immediately  perceive,  just  as  I  did,  that 
you  are  a  part  of  a  tremendous,  invisible  chain,  the 
beginning  of  which  is  hidden  in  heaven,"  said  Pierre. 

Prince  Andrei",  silently  looking  straight  ahead,  listened 
to  Pierre's  discourse.  Several  times,  when,  owing  to  the 
rumble  of  the  carriage,  he  failed  to  catch  a  word,  he 
asked  Pierre  to  repeat  it.  Pierre  could  see,  by  the  un- 
usual gleam  in  Prince  Andrei's  eyes  and  by  his  silence, 
that  his  words  were  not  without  effect,  that  Prince 
Andrei  would  not  throw  ridicule  on  what  he  said. 

They  reached  a  river  which  had  overflowed  its  banks, 
and  which  had  to  be  crossed  by  ferry.  While  they  were 
arranging  for  the  disposition  of  the  calash  and  horses, 
the  two  young  men  went  down  on  the  ferry-boat. 

Prince  Andrei,  leaning  his  elbows  on  the  railing, 
looked  in  silence  down  along  the  brimming  river,  which 
gleamed  under  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  about  it  ? "  asked  Pierre. 
"  Why  are  you  so  silent .''  " 

"  What  do  I  think  ?  I  have  been  listening  to  what 
you  said;  all  that  is  so,"  said  Prince  Andrei.  ''You 
say  'join  our  confraternity  and  we  will  teach  you  the 
purpose  of  life  and  the  object  of  man's  existence,  and 
the  laws  that  govern  the  world.'  But  who  are  '  we '  .'* 
Simply  men  !  How  do  j/07i-  know  all  that  ?  Why  is  it 
that  I  am  the  only  one  that  fails  to  see  what  you  are 
privileged  to  see  ?  You  see  a  kingdom  of  goodness  and 
truth  on  earth,  but  I  do  not  see  it." 

Pierre  interrupted  him. 

'*  Do  you  believe  in  the  future  life  .'' "  he  asked. 

"In  the  future  life.'*"  repeated  Prince  Andrei,  but 
Pierre  gave  him  no  time  to  reply,  and  took  for  granted 
that  this  very  repetition  of  his  words  was  a  denial,  the 


288  WAR   AND    PEACE 

more  so  because  he  had  of  old  known  Prince  Andrew's 
atheistical  convictions. 

"  You  say  you  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  goodness 
and  truth  on  earth.  And  I  did  not  see  it,  and  it  is 
impossible  to  see  it,  if  we  look  on  our  life  here  as  the 
end  of  all  things.  On  the  earth,  especially  on  this  earth 
here,"  —  Pierre  pointed  to  a  field,  —  "  there  is  no  truth ; 
it  is  all  lies  and  evil ;  but  in  the  universe,  in  the  whole 
universe,  is  the  kingdom  of  truth,  and  now  we  are  the 
children  of  the  earth,  but  in  eternity  we  are  the  children 
of  the  whole  universe.  Do  I  not  feel  in  my  own  soul 
that  I  constitute  a  part  of  this  mighty  harmonious  whole  ? 
Do  I  not  have  the  consciousness  that  in  this  enormous, 
innumerable  collection  of  beings  in  which  Godhead  is 
manifest  —  Supreme  Force,  if  you  prefer  the  term  — 
that  I  constitute  one  link,  one  step  between  the  lower 
orders  of  creation  and  the  higher  ones  ?  If  I  see, 
clearly  see,  this  ladder  which  rises  from  the  plant  to  the 
man,  then  why  should  I  suppose  that  it  stops  at  me, 
and  does  not  lead  higher  and  ever  higher  ?  I  know 
that,  just  as  nothing  is  ever  annihilated  in  the  universe, 
so  I  can  never  perish,  but  shall  always  exist,  and  always 
have  existed.  I  am  conscious  that  besides  myself  spirits 
must  exist  above  me,  and  that  truth  is  in  this  universe." 

"  Yes,  that  is  Herder's  doctrine,"  said  Prince  Andrei. 
"  But  that  is  not  enough  to  convince  me,  my  dear ;  but 
life  and  death  are  what  convince.  You  are  convinced 
when  you  see  a  being  who  is  dear  to  you,  who  is  bound 
to  you  by  sacred  ties,  toward  whom  you  have  done 
wrong,  and  have  hoped  to  atone  for  the  wrong,"  —  Prince 
Andrei's  voice  trembled  and  he  turned  his  head  away,  — 
*'  and  suddenly  this  being  suffers,  is  tormented,  and 
ceases  to  be.  Why  is  it  ^  It  cannot  be  that  there  is 
no  answer,  and  I  believe  that  there  is  one.  That  is 
what  convinces  a  man,  that  is  what  has  convinced  me," 
said  Prince  Andrei. 

*' Yes,  yes,"  exclaimed  Pierre,  "and  isn't  that  exactly 
what  I  said .?" 

'*  No  !  I  only  maintain  that  arguments  do  not  con- 
vince one  of    the  necessity  of    a  future  life,  but  this: 


WAR   AND    PEACE  289 

when  you  go  through  life  hand  in  hand  with  a  compan- 
ion, and  suddenly  that  companion  vanishes,  there^  into 
the  nowhere,  and  you  are  left  standing  by  this  gulf,  and 
straining  your  eyes  to  look  into  it !     And  I  have  looked 


m 


"  Well,  then !  You  know  that  there  is  a  there ,  and 
that  there  is  a  some  one.  There  is  the  future  life.  The 
some  one  is  God." 

Prince  Andrei  made  no  reply.  The  horses  had  been 
long  harnessed  again  into  the  calash  on  the  other  bank, 
and  the  ferriage  fees  paid,  and  already  the  sun  was  half 
hidden  and  the  evening  frost  was  beginning  to  skim 
over  the  pools  by  the  ferry  with  crystal  stars,  and  still 
Pierre  and  Andrei,  to  the  amazement  of  the  servants, 
the  drivers,  and  the  ferry  hands,  stood  on  the  ferry-boat 
talking. 

"  If  there  is  a  God  and  a  future  life,  then  truth  must 
exist,  then  virtue  must  exist ;  and  man's  highest  happi- 
ness consists  in  striving  to  attain  them.  We  must  live, 
we  must  love,  we  must  believe,"  Pierre  was  saying. 
''  Believe  not  that  we  exist  for  a  to-day  on  this  lump  of 
earth,  but  that  we  have  lived  and  shall  live  forever 
yonder  in  the  Whole  "  —  he  pointed  to  the  sky. 

Prince  Andrei*  was  standing  with  his  elbows  resting 
on  the  railing  of  the  ferry-boat  and  listening  to  Pierre, 
and,  without  turning  away  his  eyes,  he  gazed  at  the  red 
disk  of  the  sun  reflected  in  the  brimming  river. 

Pierre  came  to  a  pause. 

It  was  perfectly  still.  The  boat  had  long  been  moored, 
and  only  the  ripples  of  the  current  glided  by  the  bottom 
of  the  boat  with  a  faint  murmur.  It  seemed  to  Prince 
Andrei  that  this  lapping  of  the  waves  corroborated 
Pierre's  words  and  murmured  :  — 

"  It  is  true  ;  believe  it !  " 

Prince  Andrei  smiled,  and  with  a  radiant,  childlike, 
tender  expression  looked  into  Pierre's  flushed  and  en- 
thusiastic face,  which,  nevertheless,  showed  that  shy- 
ness peculiar  to  him  in  the  presence  of  a  friend  of 
superior  attainments. 

"Ah,  yes!  if  it  were  only  so,"  said  he.  "But  let  us 
VOL.  II.  — 19 


290  WAR   AND    PEACE 

be  starting,"  added  Prince  AndreY,  and,  as  he  stepped 
off  the  boat,  he  glanced  at  the  sky,  to  which  Pierre 
called  his  attention,  and  for  the  first  time  since  Auster- 
litz  he  saw  those  lofty,  eternal  heavens,  which  he  had 
looked  into  as  he  lay  on  the  battle-field,  and  something 
long  dormant,  something  that  was  the  better  part  of  him- 
self, suddenly  awoke  with  new  and  joyful  life  in  his  soul. 
This  feeling  vanished  as  soon  as  Prince  Andrei  fell 
back  again  into  the  ordinary  conditions  of  existence,  but 
he  knew  that  this  feeling,  though  he  was  unable  to  de- 
velop it,  still  lived  in  him.  His  meeting  with  Pierre 
was  for  Prince  Andrei  an  epoch  with  which  to  begin 
his^  new  life,  not  indeed  to  outward  sight,  which  re- 
mained unchanged,  but  in  the  inner  world  of  his  con- 
sciousness. 


CHAPTER   Xni 

^  It  was  already  quite  dark  when  Prince  AndreY  and 
Pierre  drove  up  to  the  principal  entrance  of  the  Luiso- 
gorsky  mansion.  Just  as  they  reached  there.  Prince 
Andrei,  with  a  smile,  called  Pierre's  attention  to  the 
hubbub  at  the  rear  doorsteps.  An  old  woman,  bending 
under  the  weight  of  a  birch-bark  sack,  and  a  short  man, 
in  black  attire  and  with  long  hair,  seeing  the  approach 
of  the  calash,  started  to  run  in  through  the  back  gates. 
Two  women  were  hurrying  after  them,  and  all  four, 
gazing  at  the  carriage,  hurried  up  the  back  stairs  in 
affright. 

** Those  are  some  of  Masha's  'Men  of  God,'"  said 
Prince  Andrei.  "They  took  us  for  my  father.  And 
this  is  the  only  thing  in  which  she  dares  think  of  going 
against  his  wishes  ;  his  orders  are  to  drive  these  pilgrims 
out,  but  she  likes  to  receive  them." 

''  But  who  are  these  pilgrims,  —  '  Men  of  God,'  as  you 
call  them  ? " 

Prince  Andrei"  had  no  time  to  reply  to  him.  Servants 
came  out  to  meet  them,  and  he  began  to  ask  where  the 
old  prince  was  and  how  soon  he  was  expected. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  291 

The  9\d  prince  was  still  in  town,  but  was  expected  at 
any  time. 

Prince  Andrei"  took  Pierre  to  his  own  chambers,  which 
were  always  kept  in  perfect  order  for  his  reception  in 
his  father's  house    and  he  himself  went  to  the  nursery. 

"  Let  us  go  and  find  my  sister,"  said  Prince  AndreY, 
rejoining  Pierre.  "I  have  not  seen  her  yet:  she  is  hid- 
den away  somewhere,  talking  with  her  '  M'fen  of  God.' 
It  will  make  her  very  much  confused,  but  you  shall  see 
her  '  Men  of  God.'     It 's  queer,  on  my  word!  " 

*' But  who  are  these  'Men  of  God'?"  asked  Pierre 
again. 

**  You  shall  see  for  yourself." 

The  Princess  Mariya  was  genuinely  confused,  and  hei 
face  blushed  in  patches  when  they  joined  her.  In  hei 
cozy  chamber,  with  the  tapers  burning  in  front  of  the 
holy  pictures,  on  the  divan  behind  the  samovar,  by  hei 
side  sat  a  young  lad  with  a  long  nose  and  long  hair,  and 
dressed  in  a  monastic  cassock. 

In  an  arm-chair  near  by  sat  a  wrinkled,  lean  old 
woman,  with  a  sweet  expression  on  her  childlike  face. 

''Andre,  why  did  n't  you  let  me  know  ?  "  said  she,  with 
gentle  reproach,  standing  up  in  front  of  her  pilgrims  like 
a  hen  trying  to  protect  her  chicks. 

"  Charmed  to  see  you.  I  am  delighted  to  see  you," 
said  she  to  Pierre,  still  in  French,  as  he  stooped  to  kiss 
her  hand.  She  had  known  him  as  a  boy,  and  now  his 
friendship  for  Andrei,  his  unhappiness  with  his  wife, 
and,  above  all,  his  good,  simple  face,  quite  won  her  heart. 
She  looked  at  him  from  her  lovely  lucid  eyes,  and  her 
expression  seemed  to  say,  "  I  like  you  very  much,  but 
please  do  not  make  fun  of  my  friends." 

After  they  had  exchanged  the  first  greetings,  they  sat 
down. 

"  Ah,  and  here  is  the  young  Ivanushka,"  said  Prince 
Andrei,  with  a  smile,  indicating  the  pilgrim  lad. 

"Andre!"  exclaimed  the  Princess  Mariya,  in  a  be- 
seeching tone. 

"  You  must  know  that  he  is  a  woman,"  said  Prince 
Andrei  to  Pierre. 


292  WAR   AND    PEACE 

*'Andr^,  mc  nom  de  Dieii,!''  exclaimed  the  Princess 
Mariya. 

It  was  evident  that  Prince  Andrei's  derisive  treat- 
ment of  the  pilgrims  and  the  Princess  Mariya's  ineffi- 
cacious defense  of  them  were  matters  of  long  standing 
between  them. 

"But,  my  dear  girl,"  said  Prince  Andrei,  "you  ought, 
on  the  contrary,  to  be  very  grateful  to  me  for  explaining 
to  Pierre  your  intimacy  with  this  young  man." 

'' Vraiment?  Are  you  in  earnest?"  asked  Pierre, 
with  somxC  curiosity  and  with  perfect  seriousness,  —  and 
for  this  the  princess  was  especially  grateful  to  him,  — 
looking  over  his  spectacles  at  Ivanushka's  face,  who, 
perceiving  that  the  talk  was  concerning  him,  looked  at 
all  of  them  with  cunning  eyes. 

It  was  entirely  unnecessary  that  the  Princess  Mariya 
should  have  felt  mortified  on  account  of  her  friends. 
They  were  not  in  the  least  abashed.  The  old  woman, 
dropping  her  eyes,  though  looking  at  the  newcomers 
sidewise  out  of  the  corners  of  them,  turned  her  cup 
bottom  side  up  on  the  saucer,  placed  next  it  the  half- 
gnawed  lump  of  sugar,  and  sat  silent  and  motionless  in 
her  chair,  waiting  to  be  asked  to  have  another  cup. 
Ivanushka,  drinking  out  of  his  saucer,  gazed  at  the 
young  men  from  under  his  sly,  womanlike  eyes. 

"Where  have  you  been.''  To  Kief.'^"  asked  Prince 
Andrei  of  the  old  woman. 

"  Yes,  father,"  replied  the  old  woman,  who  was  mclined 
to  be  loquacious.  "  On  Christmas  day  I  was  deemed 
worthy  to  partake  of  the  holy  sacrament  with  the  saints. 
But  just  now  I  come  from  Kolyazin,  father;  a  great 
blessing  has  been  vouchsafed  there....  " 

"  Tell  me,  has  Ivanushka  been  with  you.? " 

"  No,  I  have  been  all  by  myself  alone,  benefactor," 
said  Ivanushka,  striving  to  make -his  voice  bass.  "It 
was  only  at  Yukhnovo that  Pelageyushka  and  I  met....  " 

Pelageyushka  interrupted  her  companion;  she  was 
evidently  anxious  to  tell  what  she  had  seen. 

"In  Kolyazin,  father,  a  great  blessing  has  been 
shown." 


WAR    AND    PEACE  293 

**  What  was  that  ?  New  relics  ?  "  asked  Prince 
Andrei. 

"Come,  do  stop,  Andrei,"  said  the  Princess  Mariya. 
"Don't  you  tell  him,  Pelageyushka!  " 

"I  o....but  why  not,  mother,  why  shouldn't  I  tell 
him?  I  love  him.  He  is  good;  he  is  one  of  the  God's 
elect,  he  gave  me  ten  rubles  once ....  he  is  my  benefactor 
....I  remember  it  very  well.  When  I  was  in  Kief,  Kiri- 
yusha  the  Foolish  ....he's  truly  a  man  of  God,  he  goes 
barefoot  winter  and  summer ....  said  to  me,  '  What  makes 
you  wander  round  out  of  your  own  place,'  says  he  to  me  ; 
says  he,  *  Go  to  Kolyazin,  there  is  a  wonder-working  ikon; 
the  Holy  Mother  of  God  has  manifested  herself  there.' 
So  I  said  good-by  to  the  saints,  and  I  went  there.".... 

No  one  interrupted ;  the  old  woman  alone,  in  her  monot- 
onous voice,  spoke,  occasionally  stopping  to  get  her 
breath. 

"  I  went  there,  my  father,  and  the  people  there  said  to 
me,  *  A  great  blessing  has  been  vouchsafed  to  us.  Holy 
oil  has  trickled  down  from  the  cheeks  of  the  Holy  Mother 
of  God.'".... 

"  Well,  that  will  do,  that  will  do  ;  you  can  tell  the  rest 
by  and  by,"  said  the  Princess  Mariya,  blushing. 

"Let  me  ask  a  question  of  her,"  broke  in  Pierre. 
"  Did  you  see  it  with  your  own  eyes  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Indeed,  I  did,  father ;  I  myself  was  deemed  worthy. 
Such  brightness  in  her  face,  like  light  from  heaven, 
and  from  the  Virgin's  cheeks  it  trickled  and  trickled.".... 

"  But  see  here,  that  was  a  fraud,"  was  Pierre's  naYve 
comment,  after  listening  with  all  attention  to  her  story. 

"Akh!  Father,  what  do  you  say.'*"  exclaimed  Pela- 
geyushka, in  a  tone  of  horror,  turning  to  the  Princess 
Mariya  for  protection. 

"  That 's  the  way  they  deceive  the  people,"  he  re- 
iterated. 

"  Oh,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  "  exclaimed  the  old 
woman,  crossing  herself.  "  Okh !  don't  say  such  a 
thing,  father.  And  that 's  the  way  a  certain  anaral  "  — 
she  meant  to  say  general  —  "was  an  unbeliever;  he 
used  to  say,  'The  priests  deceive.'     Yes,  and  he  was 


294  WAR    AND    PEACE 

took  blind  in  consequence.  And  he  dreamed  that  the 
MatHsJika  Petchoi^skaya  ^  came  to  him  and  says :  *  Be- 
lieve in  me  and  I  will  cure  you.'  And  so  he  began  to 
beg  them:  'Take  me,  oh  take  me  to  her.'  And  I  tell 
you  this  as  gospel  truth  —  I  see  it  with  my  own  eyes. 
They  took  him,  stone-blind  as  he  was,  straight  to  her ; 
he  fell  on  his  knees,  and  says  to  her :  '  Heal  me,  I  will 
give  thee,'  says  he,  'what  the  Tsar  gave  me.'  And, 
father,  I  myself  seen  the  star  on  her,  just  as  he  gave  it 
to  her.  And  so  he  got  back  his  sight.  It's  a  sin  to 
speak  so  !  God  will  punish  you,"  said  she,  admonishingly, 
to  Pierre. 

*'  How  did  the  star  look  on  the  holy  picture .?  "  asked 
Pierre. 

"And  did  they  promote  the  Virgin  to  be  a  general }  " 
asked  Prince  Andrei,  smiling. 

Pelageyushka  suddenly  turned  pale  and  clasped  her 
hands. 

"  Oh,  father,  father  !  What  a  sin  !  And  you  with  a 
son  !  "  Her  face  flushed  again.  ''  Lord  forgive  him  ! 
Matushka,  what  does  this  mean.?"  she  asked,  turning 
to  the  Princess  Mariya. 

She  arose,  and  almost  weeping,  began  to  pick  up  her 
bag.  It  was  evident  that  it  was  both  terrible  and  shame- 
ful to  her  to  take  advantage  of  benefactions  in  a  house 
where  such  things  could  be  said,  and  yet  she  regretted 
that  it  was  now  necessary  for  her  to  deprive  herself  of 
them. 

"  Now  what  amusement  can  you  find  in  this  .?  "  asked 
the  Princess  Mariya.  "Why  did  you  come  to  my 
room  }  " 

"  No,  Pelageyushka,  I  was  only  joking,"  said  Pierre. 
"  Princesse,  ma  parole,  I  did  n't  mean  to  hurt  her  feel- 
ings. It  was  only  my  way.  Don't  have  such  an  idea ; 
I  was  only  joking,"  he  repeated,  smiling  timidly,  and 
anxious  to  smooth  over  his  offense.  "  You  see,  I  was 
only  in  fun,  and  he  was,  too." 

The  old  Pelageyushka  paused  in  doubt,  but  Pierre's 

1  The  maiushka,  little  mother  (that  is,  the  Virgin),  of  the  Petchorsky 
monastery,  or  Monastery  of  the  Catacombs,  at  Kief. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  295 

face  showed  such  sincere  repentance,  and  Prince  Andret 
looked  now  at  her  and  now  at  Pierre  with  such  a  gentle 
expression,  that  she  gradually  recovered  her  confidence. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

The  pilgrim  woman  soon  recovered  confidence  again, 
and,  returning  to  her  favorite  theme,  gave  a  long  ac- 
count of  Father  Amfilokhi,  who  was  such  a  holy  man 
in  his  life  that  his  "dear  little  hands  "  smelled  of  incense, 
and  how  her  friends  the  monks,  during  her  last  pilgrim- 
age to  Kief,  had  given  her  the  keys  to  the  catacombs, 
and  how  she,  taking  only  some  little  buscuits  —  siikhariki 

had  spent  forty-eight  hours  in  them  with  the  saints. 

**  I  pray  before  one,  I  worship,  and  then  I  go  to 
another.  Then  I  take  a  nap  and  go  and  kiss  the  other 
relics,  and  oh,  matushka,  such  peace,  such  blessed  com- 
fort—  never  did  I  want  to  come  up  into  God's  world 
again ! " 

Pierre  listened  to  her  with  an  attentive  and  serious 
expression.  Prince  Andrei  left  the  room,  and  the 
Princess  Mariya,  leaving  her  "  God's  people  "  to  finish 
drinking  their  tea,  invited  Pierre  into  the  drawing- 
room. 

"You  are  very  kind,"  said  she. 

"  Akh  !  truly  I  did  not  mean  to  offend  her  !  I  appre- 
ciate and  prize  so  dearly  such  feelings." 

The  Princess  Mariya  looked  at  him  without  speaking, 
and  a  gentle  smile  played  over  her  lips. 

"  I  have  known  you  a  long  time,  and  I  feel  as  if  you 
were  my  own  brother,"  said  she.  *'  How  do  you  find 
AndreY.?"  she  asked  hastily,  not  giving  him  time  to 
respond  to  her  affectionate  words.  "  I  feel  very  solici- 
tous about  him.  In  the  winter  his  health  was  better,  but 
this  spring  his  wound  opened  again,  and  the  doctor  said 
that  he  ought  to  go  away  and  be  treated.  And  I  am 
very  apprehensive  about  his  mental  condition.  His 
nature  is  ^o  different  from  us  women,  and  he  cannot 
ease  his  grief  by  a  good  fit  of  crying.     He  carries  it  in 


296  WAR   AND    PEACE 

his  heart.  To-day  he  is  jolly  and  full  of  life ;  but  that 
is  caused  by  your  visit.  He  is  rarely  so.  If  you  could 
only  persuade  him  to  go  abroad.  He  needs  activity, 
and  this  quiet,  monotonous  life  is  killing  him.  Other 
people  don't  notice  it,  but  I  see  it." 

At  ten  o'clock  the  servants  rushed  to  the  doorsteps, 
hearing  the  harness-bells  of  the  old  prince's  carriage. 
Prince  Andrei  and  Pierre  also  hastened  to  meet  him. 

"  Who  is  this  .'*  "  asked  the  old  prince,  as  he  got  out 
of  the  carriage  and  caught  sight  of  Pierre. 

"  Ah  !  I  am  very  glad  !  Kiss  me  !  "  he  cried,  as  soon 
as  he  learned  who  the  young  stranger  was.  He  was  in 
excellent  spirits,  and  treated  Pierre  in  the  most  friendly 
way. 

Before  supper,  Prince  AndreY,  returning  to  his  father's 
cabinet,  found  him  in  a  hot  discussion  with  Pierre.  Pierre 
argued  that  the  time  was  coming  when  there  would  be  no 
more  war.  The  old  prince  in  a  bantering  but  not  angry 
tone  maintained  the  opposite. 

"  Drain  all  the  blood  from  men's  veins  and  pour  in 
water  instead,  and  then  you  will  have  an  end  of  war ! 
Old  women's  drivel!  old  women's  drivel!  "  he  exclaimed, 
but  still  he  affectionately  tapped  Pierre  on  the  shoulder 
as  he  went  over  to  the  table  where  Prince  Andre'f  had 
taken  a  seat,  evidently  not  caring  to  enter  the  discussion, 
and  was  glanoing  over  the  papers  which  his  father  had 
brought  from  the  city.  The  old  prince  went  to  him  and 
began  to  talk  with  him  about  business. 

**  Count  Rostof,  the  marshal,  has  not  furnished  half 
his  quota,  and  when  I  got  to  town,  he  actually  con- 
ceived the  notion  of  asking  me  to  dinner  —  I  gave  him 
an  answer  that  settled  him!  But  just  look  at  this! 
Well,  brother,"  said  Nikolai  Andreyitch,  addressing  his 
son,  but  patting  Pierre  on  the  shoulder,  **  your  friend  ie 
a  fine  young  man,  I  like  him  very  much.  He  warms 
me  up.  Many  another  has  clever  things  to  say,  but 
you  don't  care  to  hear  it.  But  this  one  succeeds  in 
warming  me  up  though  I  am  an  old  man.  Well,  go  on, 
go  on,"  he  added.  "  Maybe  I  '11  come  and  sit  down  to 
supper  with  ye.     I  'd    like    another  discussion.     Make 


WAR   AND    PEACE  297 

yourself  agreeable  to  my  little  goose,  the  Princess 
Mariya,"  he  shouted  after  Pierre  through  the  door. 

During  this  visit  to  Luisiya  Gorui,  Pierre  for  the  first 
time  appreciated  the  real  strength  and  charm  of  his 
friendship  with  Prince  Andrei.  This  charm  was  mani- 
fested not  so  much  by  his  relations  with  Andrei  himself, 
as  it  was  with  all  his  relatives  and  the  inmates  of  the 
house.  Pierre  felt  that  he  was  received  on  the  footing 
of  an  old  friend,  both  by  the  stern  old  prince  and  the 
sweet,  shy  Princess  Mariya,  neither  of  whom  he  had 
ever  really  known.  Both  of  them  soon  grew  to  be  very 
fond  of  him.  The  Princess  Mariya,  whose  heart  was 
won  by  his'  genial  treatment  of  her  pilgrim  friends, 
looked  at  him  from  her  big,  lucid  eyes,  and  even  the 
little  "  yearling  Prince  Nikolai","  as  his  grandfather 
called  him,  smiled  at  Pierre  and  liked  to  go  to  him. 
Mikharl  Ivanuitch  and  Mile.  Bourienne  looked  at  him 
and  smiled  pleasantly  while  he  talked  with  the  old 
prince. 

The  old  prince  came  down  to  supper ;  this  was  evi- 
dently on  Pierre's  account.  During  the  two  days  of  his 
visit  at  Luisiya  Gorui,  he  treated  him  in  the  most  flat- 
tering way,  and  often  sent  for  him  to  come  to  his  own 
room. 

After  Pierre  had  gone,  and  all  the  members  of  the 
family  met,  they  began  to  express  their  opinions  of  him, 
as  is  always  the  case  after  the  departure  of  a  new 
acquaintance ;  but,  as  is  rarely  the  case,  they  all  agreed 
in  saying  pleasant  things  of  him. 


CHAPTER   XV 

RosTOF,  getting  back  from  his  furlough,  for  the  first 
time  felt  and  realized  how  strong  were  the  ties  that 
bound  him  to  Denisof  and  all  his  regiment. 

When  he  went  back  to  his  regiment  he  experienced  a 
sensation  analogous  to  that  which  came  over  him  on  his 
return  to  his  home  on  the  Pavarskaya.  When  he  saw 
the  first  hussar  of  his  regiment,  with  unbuttoned  uni- 


298  WAR   AND    PEACE 

form,  when  he  recognized  the  red-headed  Dementyef, 
when  he  caught  sight  of  the  roan  horses  picketed,  when 
Lavrushka  joyfully  shouted  to  his  barin  :  "The  count 
has  come,"  and  the  tattered  Denisof,  who  had  been  hav- 
ing a  nap,  came  running  out  from  his  earth-hut  and 
threw  his  arms  around  him,  and  the  officers  all  came  out  to 
greet  him,  Rostof  felt  very  much  as  he  did  when  his 
mother  and  father  and  sister  welcomed  him  home  ;  tears 
of  joy  filled  his  throat  and  choked  his  utterance. 

The  regiment  was  also  his  home,  and  as  sweet  and 
dear  to  him  as  the  home  of  his  childhood. 

After  reporting  to  the  regimental  commander  and 
being  assigned  to  his  old  squadron,  after  taking  his  turn 
as  officer  of  the  day  and  forage  purveyor,  after  getting 
into  the  current  of  all  the  small  interests  of  the  regi- 
ment, and  coming  to  a  realizing  sense  that  he  was  now 
deprived  of  his  freedom,  and  was  confined  to  a  narrow 
and  rigid  routine,  —  Rostof  felt  the  same  sense  of  rest- 
fulness,  the  same  moral  support,  and  the  same  conscious- 
ness of  being  at  home,  in  his  p-roper  place,  as  he  had 
felt  while  under  the  paternal  roof-tree.  There  was  noth- 
ing more  of  that  mad  confusion  of  the  outside  world  in 
which  he  found  himself  out  of  place  and  often  engaged 
in  questionable  actions  ;  there  was  no  Sonya,  with  whom 
he  ought  or  ought  not  to  come  to  an  explanation ;  there 
was  no  choice  offered  him  of  going  somewhere  or  not 
going  somewhere ;  there  were  no  longer  those  twenty- 
four  hours  which  had  to  be  filled  with  so  many  varied 
occupations ;  there  was  an  end  to  that  innumerable 
throng  of  people  whose  presence  or  absence  was  a  mat- 
ter of  indifference  to  him;  there  was  an  end  to  those 
obscure  and  indefinable  pecuniary  relations  with  his 
father;  an  end  to  his  recollections  of  those  terrible 
losses  to  Dolokhof ! 

Here  in  the  regiment  all  was  open  and  simple.  All 
the  world  was  divided  into  two  unequal  divisions :  one 
was  "our  "  Pavlograd  regiment,  and  the  other  —  all  the 
rest.  And  he  had  nothing  whatever  in  common  with 
this  rest.  In  the  regiment  everything  was  known :  who 
was  lieutenant,  who  was  captain,  who  was  a  good  fel 


WAR    AND    PEACE  299 

low,  who  was  a  rascal,  and  above  all,  who  was  his  mess- 
mate. The  sutler  sold  on  credit,  the  pay  was  given 
quarterly.  There  was  no  necessity  for  thought  or  decis- 
ion, provided  only  that  one  did  nothing  that  was  con- 
sidered dishonorable  in  the  Pavlograd  regiment;  but 
fulfil  your  duty,  do  what  is  commanded  you  in  clear, 
explicit,  and  unmistakable  language,  and  all  will  be  well. 

Coming  back  again  to  these  explicit  conditions  of 
army  life,  Rostof  felt  a  sense  of  comfort  and  satisfac- 
tion analogous  to  that  experienced  by  a  weary  man 
when  he  lies  down  to  rest.  To  Rostof  his  army  life 
was  all  the  more  agreeable  during  this  campaign  from 
the  fact  that  after  his  losses  from  his  gambling  with 
Dolokhof  —  aji  action  which  he  could  not  forgive,  in 
spite  of  the  forgiveness  of  his  relatives  —  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  serve,  not  as  formerly,  but  in  such  a  way 
as  to  atone  for  his  fault,  to  be  scrupulously  faithful,  to 
prove  himself  a  thoroughly  admirable  comrade  and  offi- 
cer, in  other  words,  a  "fine  man."  This  might  seem 
quite  too  hard  were  he  *'' in  the  world,"  but  was  quite 
possible  in  the  regiment. 

He  had  also  determined,  ever  since  the  time  of  his 
gambling  escapade,  to  pay  back  his  debt  to  his  parents 
within  five  years.  They  sent  him  ten  thousand  rubles 
a  year;  now  he  resolved  to  take  only  two,  and  to  apply 
the  remainder  to  the  extinction  of  the  debt. 

Our  army,  after  repeated  marches  and  counter- 
marches, with  skirmishes  at  Pultusk  and  at  Preussisch- 
Eylau,  was  concentrated  in  the  vicinity  of  Bartenstein, 
where  they  were  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  emperor 
and  the  beginning  of  a  new  campaign. 

The  Pavlograd  regiment,  belonging  to  that  division  of 
the  army  which  had  taken  part  in  the  movements  of  the 
year  1805,  had  been  recruited  to  its  full  quota  in  Russia, 
and  had  arrived  too  late  for  these  first  actions  of  the 
campaign.  It  had  been  neither  at  Pultusk  nor  at  Preus- 
sisch-Eylau,  and  now,  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
part  of  the  campaign,  having  united  with  the  acting  army^. 
it  was  detailed  to  serve  under  Platof. 


300  WAR    AND    PEACE 

Platof's  division  was  acting  independently  of  the  army. 
Several  times  the  Pavlogradsui  had  taken  part  in  skir- 
mishes with  the  enemy,  captured  prisoners,  and  once 
even  took  Marshal  Oudinot's  baggage.  During  the 
month  of  April,  the  Pavlogradsui  were  stationed  for 
several  weeks  in  the  vicinity  of  an  utterly  dilapidated 
and  deserted  German  village  without  stirring  from  the 
spot. 

It  was  thawing  and  cold;  the  rivers  were  beginning 
to  break  up;  the  roads  were  impassable,  owing  to  the 
mud;  for  many  days  no  provision  had  been  brought  for 
horses  or  men.  As  it  seemed  an  impossibility  for  trans- 
port trains  to  arrive,  the  men  scattered  about  among  the 
pillaged  and  deserted  villages  in  search  of  potatoes,  but 
even  these  were  scarce. 

Everything  had  been  devoured,  and  all  the  inhabi- 
tants had  fled.  Those  who  were  left  were  worse  than 
poverty-stricken ;  there  was  indeed  nothing  to  take 
from  them,  and  even  the  usually  pitiless  soldiery  often- 
times let  them  keep  the  little  that  they  had,  instead  of 
appropriating  it  for  themselves. 

The  Pavlograd  regiment  had  lost  only  two  men, 
wounded  in  engagements,  but  they  had  lost  almost  half 
their  numbers  from  sickness  and  starvation.  Death  was 
so  certain  if  they  went  into  the  hospitals,  that  the  sol- 
diers suffering  from  fevers  and  swellings,  caused  by  bad 
food,  preferred  to  keep  in  the  ranks  —  dragging  them- 
selves by  sheer  strength  of  will  to  the  front,  rather  than 
take  their  chances  in  the  hospitals. 

As  spring  opened,  they  began  to  find  a  plant  just 
showing  above  the  ground;  it  resembled  asparagus,  and 
for  some  reason  they  called  it  "  Mashka's  sweetwort," 
though  it  was  very  bitter.  They  hunted  for  it  all  over 
the  fields  and  meadows,  digging  it  up  with  their  sabers 
and  devouring  it,  in  spite  of  the  injunction  not  to  eat 
this  poisonous  plant.  Later  a  new  disease  broke  out 
among  the  soldiers,  a  swelling  of  the  arms,  legs,  and 
face,  and  the  physicians  attributed  it  to  the  use  of  this 
root.  But,  notwithstanding  the  prohibition,  the  men  of 
Denisof's  squadron  eagerly  ate  "  Mashka's  sweetwort," 


WAR   AND    PEACE  301 

because  for  a  fortnight  they  had  been  trying  to  subsist 
on  the  few  remaining  biscuits  —  half-pound  rations  be- 
ing dealt  out  to  each  man,  while  the  last  consignment 
of  potatoes  had  proved  to  be  rotten  and  sprouted. 

The  horses  also  had  been  subsisting  for  a  fortnight 
on  thatching-straw  taken  from  the  roofs,  and  had  be- 
come shockingly  emaciated,  and,  even  before  the  win- 
ter was  over,  covered  with  tufts  of  uneven  hair. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  this  terrible  destitution,  officers  and 
men  lived  just  the  same  as  usual.  Just  as  always, 
though  with  pale  and  swollen  faces,  and  in  ragged  uni- 
forms, the  hussars  attended  to  their  duties,  went  after 
forage  and  other  things,  groomed  their  horses,  cleaned 
their  arms,  tore  the  thatch  from  roofs  to  serve  as  fod- 
der, and  gathered  around  the  kettles  for  their  meals, 
from  which  they  got  up  still  hungry,  while  they  joked 
over  their  wretched  fare  and  hunger.  And  just  as  usual 
during  the  hours  when  they  were  off  duty,  the  soldiers 
built  big  fires,  stripped  and  stood  around  them  steam- 
ing themselves,  smoked  their  pipes,  sorted  and  baked 
their  rotten,  sprouting  potatoes,  and  told  stories  about 
the  campaigns  of  Patyomkin  and  Suvorof,  or  legends  of 
Alyosha  the  Cunning,  or  of  Mikolka  Popovitch  the 
Journeyman. 

The  officers  also  as  usual  lived  in  couples,  or  in  threes, 
in  unroofed  and  half-ruined  houses.  The  older  ones 
looked  after  the  procuring  of  straw  and  potatoes  and 
other  means  of  victualing  the  men.  The  younger  ones 
were  occupied  as  usual,  some  with  card-playing  (money 
v/as  plentiful  if  provisions  were  not),  some  with  inno- 
cent games,  —  sva'ika,  a  kind  of  ring  toss,  and  quoits  or 
skittles.  Little  was  said  about  the  general  course  of 
matters,  partly  because  nothing  positive  was  known, 
partly  because  there  was  a  general  impression  that  the 
war  was  going  badly. 

Rostof  lived  just  as  before  with  Denisof,  and  the 
friendship  that  united  them  was  closer  than  ever  since 
their  furlough.  Denisof  never  spoke  of  Rostof's  fam- 
ily, but,  by  the  affectionate  friendship  manifested  by 
the  commander  for  his  subordinate  officer.  Rostof  felt 


302  WAR    AND    PEACE 

assured  that  the  old  hussar's  unfortunate  love  for 
Natasha  was  an  additional  factor  in  the  strength  of  his 
affection. 

Denisof  evidently  tried  to  send  Rostof  as  rarely  as 
possible  on  dangerous  expeditions,  and  to  shield  him, 
and,  after  a  skirmish  or  anything  of  the  sort,  displayed 
intense  delight  to  find  him  safe  and  sound. 

On  one  of  his  expeditions  Rostof  found  an  old  Pole 
and  his  daughter  with  an  infant  at  the  breast,  in  a  de- 
serted, ruined  village,  where  he  had  gone  in  search  of 
provisions.  They  were  almost  naked  and  starving,  and 
had  no  means  of  getting  away.  Rostof  brought  them 
to  his  lodgings,  installed  them  in  his  own  rooms,  and 
kept  them  for  several  weeks,  until  the  old  man  got  well. 
One  of  Rostof's  comrades,  while  talking  about  women, 
began  to  make  sport  of  Rostof,  declaring  that  he  was 
the  slyest  of  them  all,  and  that  it  was  no  wonder  that 
he  did  not  care  to  introduce  his  comrades  to  the  pretty 
little  Polish  woman  whom  he  had  rescued. 

Rostof  took  the  jest  as  an  insult,  and,  losing  his  tem- 
per, said  such  disagreeble  things  to  the  officer,  that 
Denisof  had  great  difficulty  in  preventing  a  duel.  When 
the  officer  had  gone,  and  Denisof,  who  knew  nothing 
about  what  relationship  Rostof  bore  toward  the  Polish 
woman,  began  to  upbraid  him  for  his  temper,  Rostof 
said  :  — 

*'  Well,  maybe  you  are  right....  she  is  like  a  sister  to 
me,  and  I  cannot  describe  how  offensive  that  was  to  me. 
Because  ....  well,  because  ...." 

Denisof  gave  him  a  rap  on  the  shoulder  and  began 
swiftly  to  march  up  and  down  the  room,  not  looking 
at  his  friend.  This  was  a  habit  of  his  at  moments  of 
mental  excitement. 

*'  What  a  deucedly  fine  bweed  all  those  Wostofs 
are !  "  he  exclaimed,  and  Rostof  noticed  tears  in  his 
eyes. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  303 


CHAPTER  XVI 


In  the  month  of  April  the  troops  were  cheered  by 
the  news  that  the  sovereign  was  coming  to  the  army. 
Rostof  did  not  have  the  privilege  of  taking  part  in  the 
review  made  by  the  emperor  at  Bartenstein,  for  it  hap- 
pened that  the  Pavlogradsui  were  stationed  at  the 
advanced  posts,  a  considerable  distance  in  front  of  Bar- 
tenstein. They  were  established  in  bivouacs.  Denisof 
and  Rostof  lived  in  an  earth-hut  excavated  for  them  by 
their  soldiers,  and  covered  with  boughs  and  turf. 

This  earth-hut  was  constructed  as  follows,  according 
to  a  plan  much  in  vogue  at  that  time  :  a  trench  three 
feet  and  a  half  wide,  a  little  less  than  five  deep,  and 
about  eight  long  was  dug.  At  one  end  steps  were  con- 
structed, and  this  formed  the  entry,  the  **  grand  stair- 
case "  ;  the  trench  itself  constituted  the  abode,  in  which 
those  who  were  fortunate,  as,  for  instance,  the  squad- 
ron commander,  had  a  board  set  on  posts  on  the  side 
opposite  the  entrance  ;  this  served  as  the  table.  On 
each  side  along  the  trench  the  earth  was  hollowed  away 
to  half  its  depth,  making  a  bed  and  divan.  The  roof 
was  so  constructed  that  in  the  middle  it  was  possible  to 
stand  erect  under  it,  and  one  could  sit  up  on  the  beds 
by  leaning  over  toward  the  table. 

Denisof,  who  lived  luxuriously,  because  the  men  of 
his  squadron  were  fond  of  him,  had  an  extra  board 
in  the  pediment  of  the  roof,  and  in  this  board  was  a 
broken  but  mended  pane  of  glass.  When  it  was  very 
cold,  coals  from  the  soldiers'  fires  were  brought  on  a 
bent  piece  of  sheet-iron  and  set  on  the  steps  in  the  "re- 
ception-room," as  Denisof  called  this  part  of  the  hovel, 
and  this  made  it  so  warm  that  the  officers,  who  used  to 
come  in  great  numbers  to  visit  Denisof  and  Rostof,  could 
sit  there  in  their  shirt-sleeves. 

In  April  Rostof  happened  to  be  on  duty.  One  morn- 
ing, about  eight  o'clock,  returning  home  after  a  sleepless 
night,  he  ordered  some  coals  to  be  brought,  changed  his 
linen,  which  had  been  wet  through  by  the  rain,  went 


304 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


through  his  devotions,  drank  his  tea,  got  thoroughly 
warmed,  put  his  belongings  into  order  in  his  own  cor- 
ner and  on  the  table,  and,  with  his  face  flushed  by  the 
wind  and  the  fire,  threw  himself  down  on  his  back,  in 
his  shirt-sleeves,  with  his  arms  for  a  pillow.  He  was 
indulging  in  pleasant  anticipations  of  the  promotion 
which  was  likely  to  follow  his  last  reconnoitering  expedi- 
tion, and  was  waiting  for  the  return  of  Denisof,  who  had 
gone  off  somewhere.  Rostof  was  anxious  to  have  a  talk 
with  him. 

Behind  the  hut,  he  heard  Denisof's  high-pitched 
voice ;  he  had  evidently  returned  in  a  bad  humor. 
Rostof  went  to  the  "  window  "  to  look  out  and  see  whom 
he  was  berating ;  he  recognized  the  quartermaster, 
Topcheyenko. 

*'  I  have  given  you  special  orders  not  to  let  them  eat 
that  woot,  Mashka's  what-you-call-it,"  cried  Denisof. 
"And  here  I  've  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes;  Lazarchuk 
was  bwinging  some  in  fwom  the  field." 

"  I  have  given  the  order,  your  high  nobility,  but  they 
won't  listen  to  it,"  replied  the  quartermaster. 

Rostof  again  lay  down  on  his  bed,  and  said  to  himself 
with  a  feeling  of  content :  "  Let  him  kick  up  a  row  and 
make  as  much  fuss  as  he  pleases ;  I  've  done  my  work, 
and  now  I  '11  lie  down  ;  it 's  first-class  !  " 

He  heard  Lavrushka,  Denisof's  shrewd  and  rascally 
valet,  join  his  voice  to  the  conversation  going  on  outside 
the  hut.  Lavrushka  had  something  to  tell  about  ox-carts 
laden  with  biscuits  which  he  had  seen  as  he  was  going 
after  provisions. 

Denisof's  sharp  voice  was  again  heard  behind  the  hut, 
and  his  command,  "  Second  platoon  to  saddle !  " 

''  What  can  be  up  ?  "  wondered  Rostof. 

Five  minutes  later,  Denisof  came  into  the  hut,  climbed 
up  with  his  muddy  boots  on  his  bed,  lighted  his  pipe  in 
grim  silence,  tossed  over  all  his  belongings,  got  out  his 
whip  and  saber,  and  started  from  the  hut.  In  reply  to 
Rostof  s  question,  ''Whither  away  ?  "  he  gruffly  and  care- 
lessly replied  that  he  had  something  to  attend  to. 

"  May  God  and  vhe  soveweign  be  my  judges ! "   he 


WAR    AND    PEACE  305 

exclaimed  as  he  went  out,  and  then  Rostof  heard  the 
hoofs  of  several  horses  splashing  through  the  mud. 
Rostof  did  not  take  any  pains  to  inquire  where  Denisof 
had  gone.  Warm  and  comfortable  in  his  corner,  he 
soon  fell  asleep,  and  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when 
he  left  the  hut. 

Denisof  had  not  yet  returned.  The  weather  had 
cleared  up  bright  and  beautiful.  Near  a  neighboring 
hut  two  officers  and  a  yunker  were  playing  svai'^a, 
merrily  laughing  as  they  drove  the  redki,  or  mumblepegs, 
into  the  loose,  muddy  ground.  Rostof  joined  them.  In 
the  midst  of  the  game  the  officers  saw  a  train  approach- 
ing them  ;  fifteen  hussars  on  emaciated  horses  followed 
the  wagons.  The  teams,  convoyed  by  the  hussars,  ap- 
proached the  picketing  station,  and  a  throng  of  hussars 
gathered  round  them. 

'*  There,  now,  Denisof  has  been  mourning  all  the 
time,"  said  Rostof,  *' and  here  are  provisions  after 
all!" 

"  See  there !  "  cried  the  officers.  "  Won't  the  men  be 
happy !  " 

A  short  distance  behind  the  hussars  rode  Denisof, 
accompanied  by  two  infantry  officers,  with  whom  he 
was  engaged  in  a  heated  discussion.  Rostof  started 
down  to  meet  him. 

**  I  was  ahead  of  you,  captain,"  declared  one  of  the 
officers,  a  lean  little  man,  evidently  beside  himself  with 
passion. 

"See  here!  I  have  told  you  that  I  would  not  weturn 
'em  !  "  replied  Denisof. 

"  You  shall  answer  for  it,  captain  ;  this  is  violence  — 
to  rob  an  escort  of  their  wagons.  Our  men  have  not 
had  anything  to  eat  for  two  days." 

**  And  mine  have  not  had  anything  to  eat  for  two 
weeks,"  replied  Denisof. 

**  This  is  highway  robbery.  You  '11  answer  for  it,  my 
dear  sir,"  repeated  the  infantry  officer,  raising  his  voice. 

'*  What  are  you  bothewing  me  for  !  Hey  ?  "  screamed 
Denisof,  suddenly  losing  his  temper.  "  I  am  the  one 
who  is  v/esponsible,  and  not  you.     What  is  the  object 

VOL.  II.  —  20 


3o6  WAR   AND    PEACE 

of  all  your  buzzing  here?  Forward  !....  Marsch  !  "  he 
cried  to  the  officers. 

"Very  good!"  screamed  the  little  officer,  not  quail- 
ing and  not  budging.  "  If  you  insist  on  pillage, 
then  I...." 

"  Take  yourself  off  to  the  devil !  Get  out  of  here  !  " 
and  Denisof  rode  his  horse  straight  at  the  officer. 

''Very  good,  very  good,"  reiterated  the  officer,  with 
an  oath,  and,  turning  his  horse,  he  rode  off  at  a  gallop, 
bouncing  in  his  saddle. 

*'  A  dog  on  a  fence,  a  weal  dog  on  a  fence,"  shouted 
Denisof,  as  he  rode  away.  This  was  the  most  insulting 
remark  that  a  cavalryman  could  make  to  a  mounted 
infantryman.  Then  as  he  joined  Rostof,  he  burst  into, 
a  loud  laugh. 

"  I  wescued  'em  from  the  infantwy,  I  cawied  off  their 
'  twansport '  by  main  force,"  said  he.  "  What !  do  they 
think  I  would  let  my  men  pewish  of  starvation  ?  " 

The  wagons  which  had  been  brought  to  the  hussars 
were  consigned  to  an  infantry  regiment,  but  Denisof, 
learning  through  Lavrushka  that  the  "transport"  was 
proceeding  alone,  had  ridden  off  with  his  hussars  and 
intercepted  it.  The  soldiers  had  as  many  biscuits  as 
they  wished,  and  even  enough  to  share  with  other 
squadrons. 

The  next  day  the  regimental  commander  summoned 
Denisof,  and,  covering  his  eyes  with  his  spread  fingers, 
he  said :  — 

"  This  is  the  way  I  look  at  it :  I  know  nothing  about 
it,  and  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  it ;  but  I  advise 
you  to  go  instanter  to  headquarters  and  report  this 
affair  to  the  commissary  department,  and,  if  possible, 
give  a  receipt  for  so  many  provisions  received ;  unless 
you  do,  the  requisition  will  be  put  down  to  the  infan- 
try :  the  matter  will  be  investigated,  and  may  end 
badly." 

Denisof  went  straight  from  the  regimental  com- 
mander's to  the  headquarters,  with  a  sincere  intention  of 
adopting  his  advice.  In  the  evening  he  returned  to  his 
hut  in  a  condition  such  as  Rostof  had  never  seen  his 


WAR   AND    PEACE  307 

friend  before.  He  could  hardly  speak  or  breathe. 
When  Rostof  asked  him  what  the  matter  was,  he  only 
broke  out  in  incoherent  oaths  and  threats,  in  a  weak 
and  husky  voice. 

Alarmed  at  Denisof's  condition,  Rostof  advised  him 
to  undress,  drink  some  cold  water,  and  send  for  a 
physician. 

"  They  are  going  to  twy  me  for  wobbewy — okh  !  Give 
me  a  dwink  of  water ;  let  'em  twy  me,  I  will  beat  the 
waskals  evewy  time,  and  I  '11  tell  the  empewor.  Give 
me  some  ice,"  he  added. 

The  regimental  surgeon  came  in  and  said  that  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  take  some  blood  from  him.  He 
filled  a  soup-plate  with  dark  blood  from  Denisof's  hairy 
arm,  and  then  only  was  he  in  a  condition  to  tell  all  that 
had  taken  place. 

"  I  get  there,"  said  Denisof,  telling  his  story.  " '  Where 
is  your  head  man  here  ? '  They  show  me.  '  Can't  you. 
wait.'* '  '  I  have  pwessing  business  ;  come  thirty  versts,. 
impossible  to  wait ;  let  me  see  him  ! '  Vewy  good  ; 
out  comes  the  wobber-in-chief,  he,  too,  undertakes  to 
lecture  me:  'This  is  highway  wobbewy.'  *A  man,' 
says  I,  *  is  not  a  wobber,  who  takes  pwovisions  to  feed 
his  soldiers,  but  one  who  fills  his  own  pockets.'  —  '  Will 
you  please  keep  quiet!'  'Vewy  good/  'Sign  a  we- 
ceipt  at  the  commissioner's,'  says  he,  *  and  your  affair 
will  take  its  due  course.'  I  go  to  the  commissioner's. 
I  go  in.  And  there  at  the  table,  who  do  you  suppose  .'* 
No!  Guess....  Who  has  been  starving  us.''"  screamed 
Denisof,  gesticulating  his  wounded  arm,  and  pounding 
the  table  with  his  fist  so  violently  that  the  board  almost 
split  and  the  glasses  on  it  jumped  up.  "  Telyanin  !  — 
'So  it's  you,  is  it,  who's  been  starving  us  .-^  Once  be- 
fore you  had  your  snout  slapped  for  you,  and  got  off 
cheap  at  that.  Ah!  what  a ....  what  a.... 'and  I  began 
to  give  it  to  him.  I  enjoyed  it,  I  can  tell  you,"  cried 
Denisof,  angrily  and  yet  gleefully  showing  his  white 
teeth  under  his  black  mustache.  "  I  should  have  killed 
him,  if  they  had  not  sepawated  us." 

"  Here,  here,  what  are  you  shouting  so  for  ?     Calm 


3o8  WAR   AND    PEACK 

yourself,"  said  Rostof.  "  You  've  set  your  arm  bleeding 
again.      Wait,  it  must  be  bandaged." 

They  bandaged  Denisof's  arm,  and  got  him  off  to 
bed.     The  following  day  he  woke  jolly  and  calm. 

But  at  noon,  the  adjutant  of  the  regiment,  with  a 
grave  and  regretful  face,  came  into  Rostof  and  De- 
nisof's earth-hut,  and  with  real  distress  served  upon 
Major  Denisof  a  formal  document  from  the  regimental 
commander,  who  had  been  called  to  account  for  the 
proceeding  of  the  day  before.  The  adjutant  informed 
them  that  the  affair  was  likely  to  assume  a  very  serious 
aspect,  that  a  court-martial  commission  had  been  con- 
vened, and  that  on  account  of  the  severity  with  which 
just  at  that  time  rapine  and  lawlessness  were  treated, 
he  might  consider  himself  fortunate  if  the  affair  ended 
with  mere  degradation. 

Those  who  felt  themselves  aggrieved  represented  the 
affair  as  in  somewhat  this  way :  that  after  the  pillage  of 
the  transport,  Major  Denisof,  without  any  provocation 
and  apparently  drunk,  had  made  his  appearance  before 
the  "commissary,"  called  him  a  thief,  threatened  to 
thrash  him,  and  when  he  was  dragged  away,  he  had 
rushed  into  the  office,  struck  two  chinovniks,  and  sprained 
the  arm  of  one  of  them. 

Denisof,  in  reply  to  a  fresh  series  of  questions  from 
Rostof,  laughed,  and  said  that  he  thought  some  one  else 
had  been  there  in  that  condition  ;  but  that  all  this  story 
was  rubbish,  fiddle-faddle,  that  he  was  not  afraid  of  any 
court-martials,  and  that  if  these  villains  dared  to  pick  a 
quarrel  with  him,  he  would  answer  them  in  a  way  that 
they  would  not  soon  forget. 

Denisof  spoke  with  affected  indifference  about  all  the 
affair;  but  Rostof  knew  him  too  well  not  to  perceive 
that  at  heart  —  though  he  hid  it  from  the  rest  —  he  was 
afraid  of  a  court-martial,  and  was  really  troubled  by  this 
affair,  which  evidently  might  have  sad  consequences. 
Every  day,  inquiries,  summonses,  and  other  documents 
kept  coming  to  him,  and  on  the  first  of  May  he  was 
required  to  turn  over  his  command  to  his  next  in  sen- 
iority, and  appear  at  the  headquarters  of  the  divisions  to 


WAR    AND    PEACE  309 

make  his  defense  in  the  matter  of  pillaging  the  provis- 
ion train. 

On  the  evening  preceding  the  day  of  the  trial,  Platof 
made  a  reconnoissance  of  the  enemy,  with  two  regi- 
ments of  Cossacks  and  two  squadrons  of  hussars. 
Denisof,  as  usual,  went  out  beyond  the  lines,  in  order  to 
make  an  exhibition  of  his  gallantry.  A  bullet  sent  from 
a  French  musket  struck  him  in  the  fleshy  upper  portion 
of  his  leg.  Most  likely  Denisof,  in  ordinary  circum- 
stances, would  not  have  left  the  regiment  for  such  a 
trifling  wound,  but  now  he  profited  by  this  occurrence, 
gave  up  his  command  of  the  division,  and  went  to  the 
hospital. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

In  the  month  of  June  occurred  the  battle  of  Friedland, 
in  which  the  Pavlogradsui  took  no  part,  and  this  was 
followed  immediately  by  an  armistice. 

Rostof  grievously  missed  his  friend,  and,  as  he  had 
not  had  any  news  of  him  since  he  left  the  regiment,  and 
was  doubly  uneasy  about  his  trial  and  the  result  of  his 
wound,  he  took  advantage  of  the  armistice  and  went  to 
the  hospital  to  make  inquiries  about  Denisof. 

The  hospital  was  established  in  a  small  Prussian  vil- 
lage, which  had  twice  been  sacked  by  the  Russian  and 
French  armies.  For  the  very  reason  that  it  was  sum- 
mer, when  everything  in  nature  v/as  beautiful,  this  vil- 
lage, with  its  ruined  roof-trees  and  fences  and  its  filthy 
streets,  its  ragged  inhabitants,  and  the  invalid  and 
drunken  soldiers  wandering  about,  presented  an  espe- 
cially gloomy  appearance. 

The  hospital  had  been  established  in  a  stone  mansion 
with  many  broken  panes  and  window-frames,  and  situ- 
ated in  a  yard  with  the  remains  of  a  ruined  fence.  A 
number  of  pale-looking  soldiers,  bandaged  and  swollen, 
were  walking  up  and  down,  or  sitting  in  the  sun  in  the 
yard. 

As  soon  as  Rostof  entered  the  house,  he  was  envel 


3IO  WAR   AND    PEACE 

oped  by  the  odor  of  putrefaction  and  disease.  On  the 
doorstep  staircase  he  met  the  Russian  military  surgeon, 
with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth.  The  surgeon  was  followed 
by  a  Russian  feldsJier  or  assistant. 

"  I  can't  be  everywhere  at  once,"  the  doctor  was  say- 
ing. "  Come  this  evening  to  Makar  Alekseyevitch's ; 
I  '11  be  there." 

The  feldsher  asked  him  some  question. 

"  Eh  !  do  as  well  as  you  know  how  !  It  does  n't  make 
any  difference,  does  it.-'"  The  doctor  caught  sight  of 
Rostof  mounting  the  stairs.  **  What  are  you  doing  here, 
your  nobility  t  "  asked  the  doctor.  "  What  are  you  do- 
ing here  t  Because  a  bullet  has  n't  touched  you,  do  you 
want  to  be  carried  off  by  typhus,  batyushka  1  This  is 
the  house  of  leprosy  !  " 

*'  What  do  you  mean  }  "  asked  Rostof. 

"  Typhus,  batyushka  !  It 's  death  for  whoever  comes 
in  here.  Makeyef,"  he  pointed  to  his  assistant, 
"  Makeyef  and  I  are  the  only  two  left  to  wriggle ! 
Five  of  our  brother  doctors  have  died  already.  When  a 
new  man  comes,  it 's  all  up  with  him  in  a  week,"  said 
the  doctor,  with  apparent  satisfaction.  ''  The  Prussian 
doctors  were  invited,  but  our  allies  did  not  like  it  at  all." 

Rostof  explained  his  anxiety  to  find  Major  Denisof  of 
the  hussars. 

**I  don't  know;  I  don't  remember  him.  You  can 
imagine :  I  have  charge  of  three  hospitals ;  four  hun- 
dred sick  is  too  many.  It 's  a  very  good  thing  for  be- 
nevolent Prussian  ladies  to  send  us  coffee  and  lint  at  the 
rate  of  two  pounds  a  month ;  if  they  did  n't,  we  should 
be  utterly  lost."  He  laughed.  '*  Four  hundred,  ba- 
tyushka !  and  they  send  me  all  the  new  cases.  There 
are  four  hundred,  aren't  there.?  Hey.?"  he  asked  of 
the  feldsher.  His  assistant  looked  annoyed.  It  was 
evident  that  he  was  impatient  for  the  too  loquacious 
doctor  to  make  haste  and  take  his  departure. 

*'  Major  Denisof,"  repeated  Rostof.  *'  He  was  wounded 
at  Moliten." 

*'  I  think  he  's  dead.  How  is  it,  Makeyef  }  "  asked 
the  doctor,  in  an  indifferent  tone,  of  the  feldsher 


WAR   AND    PEACE 


3" 


The  assistant  simply  repeated  the  doctor's  words. 

"  Tell  me,  was  he  a  tall,  reddish  man  ?  "  asked  the 
doctor. 

Rostof  described  Denisof's  appearance. 

"Yes,  there  was,  there  certainly  was  such  a  person," 
exclaimed  the  doctor,  seeming  to  show  a  gleam  of  satis- 
faction. "  But  that  person,  I  'm  sure,  must  have  died ; 
however,  I  '11  make  inquiries ;  I  had  the  lists ;  you  have 
them,  Makeyef,  have  n't  you  ?  " 

**The  lists  are  at  Makar  Alekseyevitch's,"  replied  the 
feldsher.  "  But  you  might  inquire  in  the  officers'  ward  ; 
there  you  would  find  out  for  yourself,"  he  added,  turning 
to  Rostof. 

"  Ekh  !  you  'd  better  not  go,"  said  the  surgeon.  "You 
would  n't  like  to  be  kept  here  !  " 

Rostof,  however,  took  leave  of  the  surgeon,  and 
begged  the  feldsher  to  show  him  the  way. 

"  Don't  you  lay  the  blame  on  me,"  shouted  the  doc- 
tor, up  from  the  bottom  of  the  stairs. 

Rostof  and  the  feldsher  went  along  the  corridor. 
The  hospital  odor  was  so  powerful  in  this  dark  corri- 
dor that  Rostof  took  hold  of  his  nose,  and  was  obliged 
to  pause  to  collect  his  strength  before  he  could  go 
farther. 

At  the  right  a  door  opened  and  a  thin,  sallow-looking 
man,  on  crutches,  barefooted,  and  in  his  shirt-sleeves, 
appeared.  As  he  crossed  the  lintel,  he  gazed  with 
gleaming,  envious  eyes  at  the  approaching  men.  Glanc- 
ing through  the  door,  Rostof  saw  that  the  sick  and 
wounded  were  lying  in  the  room  over  the  floor,  on 
straw,  and  on  their  cloaks. 

"  May  I  go  in  and  look  .?  "  he  asked. 

"  What  is  there  to  see  ?  "  replied  the  officer. 

But  for  the  very  reason  that  the  feldsher  was  evi- 
dently reluctant  to  have  him  go  in,  Rostof  was  deter- 
mined to  investigate  the  soldiers'  ward.  The  effluvium, 
which  he  had  already  smelt  in  the  corridor,  was  still 
stronger  here.  It  had  also  changed  somewhat  in  char- 
acter :  it  was  sharper,  more  penetrating,  one  could  be 
certain  that  this  was  the  very  place  where  it  originated. 


312  WAR   AND    PEACE 

In  a  long  room,  brilliantly  illuminated  by  the  sua 
which  poured  in  through  the  wide  windows,  lay  the  sick 
and  wounded  in  two  rows,  with  their  heads  to  the  walls, 
leaving  a  passageway  between  their  feet.  The  most  of 
them  were  asleep  or  unconscious,  and  paid  no  attention 
to  the  visitors.  Those  who  had  their  senses,  either 
lifted  themselves  up,  or  raised  their  thin,  yellow  faces, 
and  all,  without  exception,  gazed  at  Rostof  with  one 
and  the  same  expression  of  hope  that  help  had  come, 
of  reproach  and  envy  at  seeing  another  so  strong  and 
well. 

Rostof  went  into  the  middle  of  the  ward,  glanced 
through  the  half-open  doors  into  the  adjoining  rooms, 
and  on  both  sides  saw  the  same  spectacle.  He  paused 
and  silently  looked  around  him.  He  had  never  expected 
to  see  such  a  thing.  In  front  of  him,  almost  across  the 
narrow  passageway,  lay,  on  the  bare  floor,  a  sick  man, 
apparently  a  Cossack,  as  his  hair  was  cropped,  leaving 
a  tuft.  This  Cossack  lay  on  his  back,  with  his  huge 
legs  and  arms  sprawled  out.  His  face  was  a  livid  pur- 
ple. His  eyes  were  rolled  up  so  that  only  the  whites 
could  be  seen,  and  the  veins  in  his  bare  legs  and  arms, 
which  were  still  red,  stood  out  like  cords.  He  was 
thumping  his  head  on  the  floor  and  hoarsely  muttering 
.some  word  which  he  repeated  over  and  over  again. 
Rostof  listened  to  what  he  was  saying,  and  at  last  made 
out  what  the  word  was  :  this  word  was  "water —  water 
—  water !  " 

Rostof  looked  around  in  search  of  some  one  to  put 
the  man  in  his  place  and  give  him  a  drink. 

"Who  looks  after  the  sick  here.!*"  he  asked  of  the 
feldsher.  Just  at  that  moment  a  train-soldier,  detailed 
to  act  as  nurse,  came  along,  and,  scraping,  made  a  low 
bow  before  Rostof. 

"  I  wish  you  good-morning,  your  high  nobility,"  cried 
the  soldier,  rolling  his  eyes  on  Rostof,  and  evidently 
mistaking  him  for  some  important  official. 

"  Lift  him  up  ;  give  him  water,"  said  Rostof,  pointing 
to  the  Cossack. 

"  I   will,  your  high  nobility,"   said  the  soldier,  with 


WAR   AND    PEACE  313 

alacrity,  rolling  his  eyes  round  still  more  attentively, 
and  craning  his  neck,  but  still  not  stirring  from  the 
spot. 

"  No,  there  's  nothing  I  can  do  here,"  thought  Rostof, 
dropping  his  eyes ;  he  was  about  to  go  on,  but  felt  the 
consciousness  that  an  entreating  glance  was  fixed  upon 
him  from  the  right,  and  he  turned  around  to  see. 
Almost  in  the  very  corner  of  the  room,  an  old  soldier 
was  sitting  on  a  cloak.  He  had  a  thin,  stern  face,  as 
yellow  as  a  skeleton,  and  a  rough,  gray  beard  ;  he  looked 
entreatingly  at  Rostof.  A  neighbor  of  the  old  soldier 
on  one  side  seemed  to  be  whispering  something  to  him, 
and  pointed  to  Rostof.  Rostof  realized  that  the  old 
man  was  determined  to  ask  him  some  favor.  He  went 
nearer  and  perceived  that  one  leg  was  affected  with 
gangrene,  and  that  the  other  had  been  amputated  above 
the  knee.  Another  neighbor  of  the  old  man's  lay 
motionless  at  some  little  distance  from  him,  with  his 
head  thrown  back ;  this  was  a  young  soldier,  whose 
snub-nosed  face,  still  covered  with  freckles,  was  as  white 
as  wax ;  the  eyes  rolled  up  under  his  lids. 

Rostof  looked  at  the  snub-nosed  soldier,  and  a  cold 
chill  ran  down  his  back. 

•'  But  this  one,  it  seems  to  me,  is  ....  "  he  began,  turn- 
ing to  the  feldsher. 

"  We  have  already  begged  and  prayed,  your  nobility," 
said  the  old  soldier,  with  his  lower  jaw  trembling.  *'  It 
was  all  over  this  morning.  Why !  we  are  men,  and  not 
dogs." 

"  I  will  see  to  it  immediately,  he  shall  be  removed,  he 
shall  be  removed,"  hurriedly  said  the  feldsher.  "  I  beg 
of  you,  your  nobility  ....  " 

"  Come  on,  come  on,"  replied  Rostof,  also  hurriedly, 
and  dropping  his  eyes  and  shrinking  all  together,  trying 
to  pass  unobserved  under  the  gauntlet  of  those  reproach 
ful  and  envious  eyes  fixed  upon  him,  he  left  the  room.    ^ 


314  WAR   AND    PEACP: 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

Passing  along  the  corridor,  the  feldsher  led  Rostof 
into  the  officers'  ward,  which  consisted  of  three  rooms, 
communicating  by  opened  doors.  There  were  beds  in 
these  rooms ;  the  sick  and  wounded  officers  were  lying 
and  sitting  on  them.  Some,  in  dressing-gowns,  were 
pacing  up  and  down  the  rooms. 

The  first  person  whom  Rostof  met  in  the  officers' 
ward  was  a  little  slim  man,  with  one  arm  gone,  and 
wearing  a  cap  and  dressing-gown,  who  was  walking  up 
and  down  the  first  room  with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth. 
Rostof,  on  catching  sight  of  him,  racked  his  brains  to 
remember  where  he  had  seen  him. 

''What  a  place  for  God  to  bring  us  together  again !  " 
exclaimed  the  little  man.  "  I  'm  Tushin,  Tushin,  don't 
you  remember  ?  I  brought  you  back  safe  at  Schon- 
graben  !  Well,  they  've  lopped  off  a  little  morsel,  see 
here ! "  said  he,  smiling,  and  pointing  to  the  empty 
sleeve  of  his  khalat.  "  And  you  're  hunting  for  Vasili 
Dmitrievitch  Denisof.  He's  one  of  our  chums!"  he 
said,  on  learning  whom  Rostof  wanted.  "  Here,  here," 
and  Tushin  drew  him  into  the  second  room,  where  sev- 
eral men  were  heard  laughing  loudly. 

"  I  declare  !  how  can  they  think  of  living  here,  much 
less  of  laughing  ? "  wondered  Rostof,  with  the  odor  of 
dead  bodies  which  he  had  found  in  the  soldiers'  ward 
still  in  his  nostrils,  and  still  seeing  those  envious  glances 
fixed  upon  him  and  following  him,  and  the  face  of  that 
young  soldier  with  the  upturned  eyes. 

Denisof,  with  his  head  buried  under  the  bedclothes, 
was  sound  asleep  on  his  bed,  although  it  was  noon. 

"What.-*  Wostof .?  How  are  you,  how  are  you,-*"  he 
cried,  in  exactly  the  same  voice  as  when  he  was  with  the 
regiment ;  but  Rostof  observed  with  pain  that,  hidden 
under  this  show  of  ease  and  vivacity,  there  was  a 
shadow  of  a  new  and  disagreeable  asperity  in  Denisof's 
expression,  and  in  his  words  and  tones. 

His  wound,  in  spite  of  its  insignificance,  was  still  un- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  315 

healed,  though  six  weeks  had  passed  since  the  skirmish. 
His  face,  also,  had  the  same  pallor  and  look  of  puffiness 
that  characterized  all  the  inmates  of  the  hospital.  But 
it  was  not  this  that  so  especially  struck  Rostof :  he  was 
amazed  by  the  fact  that  Denisof  did  not  seem  to  be  glad 
to  see  him,  and  smiled  unnaturally.  Denisof  did  not  once 
inquire  about  the  regiment  or  about  the  general  course 
of  affairs.  When  Rostof  spoke  of  these  things,  Denisof 
did  not  even  listen. 

Rostof  noticed  also  that  it  was  distasteful  to  Denisof 
to  be  reminded  of  the  regiment,  and  in  general  of  that 
larger  and  freer  existence  going  on  outside  of  the  hos- 
pital. It  seemed  as  if  he  were  trying  to  forget  his 
former  life,  and  the  only  thing  that  interested  him  was 
his  quarrel  with  the  commissary  chinovniks. 

In  reply  to  Rostof's  question  how  the  affair  was  going, 
he  immediately  pulled  out  from  under  his  pillow  a  docu- 
ment which  he  had  received  from  the  commission,  and 
the  rough  draft  of  his  own  reply  to  it.  He  brightened 
up  as  he  began  to  read  his  document,  and  he  called 
Rostof's  attention  to  the  keen  things  which  he  said 
against  his  enemies  in  his  reply.  Denisof's  acquain- 
tances of  the  hospital,  who  had  crowded  around  Rostof 
as  a  person  from  the  outside  world,  gradually  scattered 
as  soon  as  Denisof  began  to  read  his  paper.  By  their 
faces,  Rostof  perceived  that  all  these  gentlemen  had 
more  than  once  heard  the  whole  story  and  were  heartily 
sick  of  it.  Only  one,  his  neighbor  of  the  next  bed,  a 
stout  Uhlan,  still  kept  his  seat  on  his  hammock,  frown- 
ing gloomily,  and  smoking  his  pipe ;  and  the  little, 
armless  Tushin  continued  to  listen,  though  he  shook  his 
head  disapprovingly.  In  the  midst  of  the  reading,  the 
Uhlan  interrupted  Denisof. 

"  Now,  it 's  my  opinion,"  said  he,  turning  to  Rostof, 
*'  that  the  only  thing  to  do  is  simply  to  petition  the  sov- 
ereign for  pardon.  They  say  now  there  are  going  to 
be  great  rewards,  and  a  mere  matter  of  a  pardon  ....  " 

"  I  petition  the  soveweign  !  "  exclaimed  Denisof,  in  a 
voice  in  which  he  tried  hard  to  maintain  his  old-time  en- 
ergy and  vehemence,  but  which  sounded  helplessly  feeble. 


7t6  war   and    peace 

<j 

''What  for?  If  I  had  been  a  highway  wobber,  I 
might  petition  for  pardon,  but  here  I  am  court-martialed 
because  I  'cawy  these  wobbers  thwough  clean  water,' 
as  the  saying  is.  Let  'em  twy  me,  I  'm  not  afwaid  of 
'em !  I  have  served  my  Tsar  honowably,  and  my  coun- 
twy,  and  I  have  not  been  a  thief !  and  they  degwade 
me,  and....  See  here!  listen  to  what  I  wite  'em  in 
stwaightforward  language.  This  is  what  I  wite :  If 
I  had  been  an  embezzler  .... '  " 

''It's  cleverly  written,  no  question  about  that,"  said 
Tushin.  ','  But  that  is  not  the  point,  Vasili  Dmitritch." 
He  turned  also  to  Rostof :  "  He  must  give  in,  and  this 
is  what  Vasili  Dmitritch  will  not  hear  to  doing.  Now, 
there,  the  auditor  himself  told  you  that  it  was  a  bad 
business." 

"  Let  it  be  bad  business,  then,"  exclaimed  Denisof. 

"  And  the  auditor  wrote  a  petition  for  you,"  continued 
Tushin,  "  and  you  had  better  sign  it  and  give  it  to  him. 
He" — meaning  Rostof  —  "has  influence  at  headquar- 
ters.   You  won't  find  a  better  chance." 

"  Yes,  but  have  n't  I  told  you  that  I  won't  stoop  to 
cwinge,"  interrupted  Denisof,  and  once  more  he  set 
out  to  finish  his  document. 

Rostof  did  not  dare  to  argue  with  Denisof,  although 
he  felt  instinctively  that  the  course  indicated  by  Tushin 
and  the  other  officers  was  the  one  advisable;  and  although 
he  should  have  counted  himself  happy  to  find  a  chance 
to  render  Denisof  a  service,  he  knew  Denisof's  unbend- 
ing will  and  righteous  wrath. 

When  Denisof  had  finished  reading  his  venomous  dia- 
tribe, which  had  consumed  more  than  an  hour,  Rostof 
had  nothing  to  say,  and  in  the  gloomiest  frame  of  mind 
he  spent  the  rest  of  the  day  in  the  society  of  Denisof's 
companions,  who  had  gathered  around  him  again,  talk- 
ing. He  told  them  all  the  news,  and  listened  to  the 
tales  of  the  others.  Denisof  preserved  a  moody  silence 
all  the  afternoon. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  Rostof  got  up  to  go,  and  asked 
Denisof  if  there  was  nothing  that  he  could  do  for  him. 

"Yes,  wait,"  said  Denisof,  glancing  at  the  officers, 


WAR   AND    PEACE  317 

and,  pulling  some  papers  out  from  under  his  pillow,  he 
went  to  the  window,  where  stood  an  inkstand,  and  began 
to  write. 

"You  can't  split  an  ax-head  with  a  whip,"  said  he, 
as  he  came  away  from  the  window,  and  gave  Rostof  a 
large  envelope.  This  was  the  petition  to  the  emperor, 
which  the  auditor  had  written  for  him ;  in  it  nothing 
was  said  whatever  about  the  faults  of  the  commissary 
department,  but  he  simply  craved  pardon. 

*' Hand  it  in;  it's  evident ...."  he  did  not  finish  his 
sentence,  and  smiled  a  painfully  unnatural  smile. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

On  his  return  to  the  regiment,  and  having  made  his 
report  to  the  commander  in  regard  to  Denisof's  condi- 
tion, Rostof  set  out  for  Tilsit  with  the  petition  to  the 
sovereign. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  June,  the  French  and  Russian 
emperors  had  met  at  Tilsit.  Boris  Drubetskoi  begged 
the  distinguished  individual  to  whose  staff  he  was  at- 
tached for  permission  to  be  present  at  the  conference 
which  was  to  be  held  at  Tilsit. 

"  I  should  like  to  see  the  great  man  with  my  own 
eyes,"  said  he,  speaking  of  Napoleon,  whom  he,  like 
every  one  else,  had  always  hitherto  called  Buonaparte. 

"  You  mean  Buonaparte  ? "  asked  the  general,  with 
a  smile. 

Boris  looked  inquiringly  at  his  general,  and  immedi- 
diately  perceived  that  the  general  was  trying  to  quiz 
him. 

**  Prince,  I  am  speaking  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon," 
he  replied. 

The  general,  with  a  smile,  tapped  him  on  the  shoulder. 
**  You  '11  get  on,"  said  he,  and  he  took  him  with  him. 

Boris  was  one  of  the  few  who  were  there  at  the  Nie- 
men  on  the  day  when  the  emperors  met;  he  saw  the 
rafts  with  the  monograms ;  he  saw  Napoleon  ride  down 
the  bank  past  the  French  Guards ;  he  saw  the  Emperor 


3i8  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Alexander's  thoughtful  face,  as  he  sat  in  silence  in  the 
inn  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  waiting  for  Napoleon  to 
come  ;  he  saw  the  two  emperors  get  into  the  boats,  and 
Napoleon,  who  was  the  first  to  reach  the  raft,  go  forward 
with  swift  steps  to  meet  Alexander,  give  him  his  hand, 
and  then  disappear  with  him  under  the  pavilion. 

Ever  since  his  entry  into  the  highest  circles,  Boris  had 
conceived  the  habit  of  carefully  observing  whatever  was 
going  on  around  him  and  recording  it.  During  the  time 
of  the  interview  at  Tilsit,  he  inquired  the  names  of  the 
personages  who  came  with  Napoleon,  remarked  the 
uniforms  which  they  had  on,  and  listened  with  great 
attention  to  the  words  spoken  by  all  the  men  of  impor- 
tance. At  the  moment  the  emperors  went  into  the 
pavilion,  he  looked  at  his  watch,  and  he  did  not  fail  to 
look  at  it  again  at  the  moment  Alexander  came  forth 
from  the  pavilion.  The  interview  lasted  an  hour  and 
fifty-three  minutes ;  this  fact  he  wrote  down  that  very 
same  evening,  together  with  many  others  w^hich  he  felt 
had  historical  significance. 

Thus,  the  emperor's  suite  being  very  small,  the  fact 
of  being  present  at  Tilsit  at  the  time  of  the  interview 
was,  for  a  man  who  prized  success  in  the  service,  fraught 
with  deep  meaning  ;  and  Boris,  who  enjoyed  this  priv- 
ilege, felt  that  his  position  was  henceforth  secured. 
He  was  not  only  known  by  name,  but  was  always  seen 
and  taken  for  granted.  Twice  he  was  sent  on  errands 
to  the  emperor  himself,  so  that  the  emperor  came  to 
know  his  face,  and  the  inner  circle  not  only  ceased  to 
shun  him  as  '*  a  new  person,"  as  before,  but  would  have 
been  surprised  at  his  absence. 

Boris  lodged  with  another  aide,  the  Polish  Count  Zhi- 
linski.  Zhilinski,  though  a  Polyak,  had  been  educated 
in  Paris,  was  rich,  was  passionately  fond  of  the  French, 
and  almost  every  day,  during  the  time  of  the  interview 
at  Tilsit,  he  and  Boris  used  to  have  the  officers  of  the 
Guards  and  members  of  the  imperial  French  staff  to 
breakfast  and  dinner  with  them. 

On  the  evening  of  the  sixth  of  July,  Count  Zhilinski, 
Boris's  chum,  was  giving  a  dinner  to  some  of  his  French 


WAR   AND    PEACE  319 

acquaintances.  At  this  dinner,  the  guest  of  honor  was 
one  of  Napoleon's  aides ;  there  were  a  number  of  the 
officers  of  the  Imperial  Guard,  and  a  young  lad  belong- 
ing to  an  old  aristocratic  French  family,  who  was 
Napoleon's  page. 

That  same  day,  Rostof,  profiting  by  the  darkness  to 
pass  unrecognized,  proceeded  to  Tilsit,  in  civil  dress,  and 
went  to  the  apartment  occupied  by  Zhilinski  and 
Boris. 

Rostof,  in  common  with  the  whole  army  from  which 
he  came,  was  as  yet  far  from  experiencing  that  change 
which  had  taken  place  at  headquarters  and  in  Boris,  in 
regard  to  Napoleon  and  the  French  —  to  look  upon 
them  as  friends  instead  of  foes. 

As  yet,  all  connected  with  the  army  still  continued  to 
hold  their  former  derisive  feeling  of  ill-will,  scorn,  and 
fear  of  Bonaparte  and  the  French.  Only  a  short  time 
before,  Rostof,  in  talking  with  a  Cossack  officer  of 
Platof's  division,  had  contended  that,  if  Napoleon  had 
been  taken  prisoner,  he  would  have  been  treated,  not  as 
a  sovereign,  but  as  a  criminal. 

Even  more  recently,  falling  in  with  a  French  colonel, 
who  had  been  wounded,  Rostof  had  become  heated  in 
trying  to  prove  that  there  could  be  no  peace  between  a 
lawful  sovereign  and  a  criminal  like  Bonaparte. 

It  struck  Rostof  strangely,  therefore,  to  see  in  Boris's 
rooms  French  officers,  in  the  very  same  uniforms  which 
he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  viewing  in  an  utterly  differ- 
ent light,  across  from  the  skirmishers'  lines. 

The  moment  he  saw  a  French  officer  looking  out  of 
the  door,  that  feeling  of  war,  of  hostility,  which  he 
always  experienced  at  sight  of  the  foe,  suddenly  took 
possession  of  him.  He  paused  at  the  threshold,  and 
asked  in  Russian  if  Drubetskoi*  lived  there. 

Boris  heard  the  unwonted  voice  in  the  entry,  and 
came  out  to  meet  him.  At  the  first  moment,  on  recog- 
nizing Rostof,  a  shade  of  annoyance  crossed  his  face. 

**  Ah !  is  it  you  ?  Very  glad,  very  glad  to  see  you," 
said  he,  nevertheless,  and  coming  towards  him  with  a 
smile.     But  Rostof  had  noticed  his  first  impression. 


320  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"  It  seems  I  have  come  at  the  wrong  time,"  said  he. 
"I  should  not  have  come,  but  I  had  business,"  he  added 
coldly. 

"  No,  I  was  only  surprised  that  you  had  got  away 
from  your  regiment.  I  '11  be  with  you  in  a  moment," 
he  shouted,  in  reply  to  some  one  calling  him  from 
within. 

'*!  see  that  my  visit  is  untimely,"  repeated  Rostof. 

The  expression  of  annoyance  had  entirely  disappeared 
by  this  time  from  Boris's  face ;  apparently  having  con- 
sidered and  made  up  his  mind  what  course  to  pursue,  he 
seized  his  visitor  by  both  hands,  with  remarkable  ease 
of  manner,  and  drew  him  "into  the  adjoining  room. 
Boris's  eyes,  fixed  calmly  and  confidently  on  Rostof, 
were,  as  it  were,  shielded  by  something  —  as  if  there 
were  a  screen,  the  blue  spectacles  of  high  society  — 
placed  in  front  of  them.     So  it  seemed  to  Rostof. 

"  Akh !  please  say  no  more  about  being  come  inop- 
portunely," said  Boris.  He  drew  him  into  the  room 
where  the  table  was  set  for  dinner,  introduced  him  to 
the  guests,  calling  him  by  name,  and  explaining  that  he 
was  not  a  civilian,  but  an  officer  in  the  hussars,  and  an 
old  friend  of  his.  ''Count  Zhilinski,"  '' le  Comte  N.  N.," 
le  Capitaine  S.  S.,"  said  he,  naming  the  guests.  Rostof 
scowled  at  the  Frenchmen,  bowed  stiffly,  and  said 
nothing. 

Zhilinski  was  evidently  displeased  at  the  intrusion  of 
this  new  Russian  individual  into  his  circle,  and  had 
nothing  to  say  to  Rostof.  Boris,  affecting  not  to  notice 
the  awkwardness  produced  by  the  introduction  of  the 
newcomer,  and  still  displaying  the  same  easy  grace 
and  impenetrable  look  of  his  eyes  with  which  he  had 
received  Rostof,  tried  to  enliven  the  conversation. 

One  of  the  Frenchmen  turned,  with  characteristic 
Gallic  politeness,  to  the  stubbornly  silent  Rostof,  and 
remarked  that  he  supposed  he  had  come  to  Tilsit  to  see 
the  emperor. 

"  No,  I  came  on  business,"  replied  Rostof,  laconically. 

Rostof's  ill-humor  had  come  on  immediately  at  notic- 
ing the  annoyance  expressed  in  Boris's  face,  and-  -as 


WAR   AND    PEACE  321 

usually  happens  with  people  who  are  out  of  sorts,  he 
imagined  that  all  were  looking  at  him  with  unfriendly 
eyes,  and  that  he  was  in  their  way.  And,  in  truth,  he 
was  in  their  way,  for  he  took  no  part  in  the  conversation 
that  was  just  beginning. 

''  And  why  is  he  sitting  there  ?  "  the  glances  that  were 
fixed  on  him  seemed  to  say.  He  got  up  and  went  to 
Boris. 

"  I  know  I  am  a  constraint  to  you,"  said  he,  in  a 
whisper.  "  Come,  let  me  tell  you  about  my  business 
and  I  will  be  going." 

"  No,  not  in  the  least,"  replied  Boris.  "  But  if  you 
are  tired,  let  us  go  into  my  room,  and  you  can  lie  down 
and  rest." 

''Well,  really...." 

They  went  into  Boris's  little  sleeping-room.  Rostof, 
without  sitting  down,  began  in  a  pettish  tone  —  as  if 
Boris  were  in  some  way  to  blame  for  the  matter  —  to 
tell  him  about  Denisof 's  affair,  and  asked  him  if  he  could 
and  would  send  in  the  petition  for  Denisof,  through  the 
general  on  whose  staff  he  was  serving,  and  see  to  it  that 
Denisof's  letter  reached  the  emperor. 

When  the  two  were  alone  together,  Rostof,  for  the 
first  time,  found  it  awkward  to  look  into  Boris's  eyes. 
Boris,  sitting  with  his  legs  crossed,  and  pressing  the 
slender  fingers  of  his  right  hand  into  his  left,  listened  to 
Rostof  in  the  same  way  as  a  general  listens  to  a  report 
from  his  subordinate  ;  sometimes  he  glanced  around,  and 
then  again  looked  into  Rostof's  face  with  that  peculiar 
veil  of  impenetrability  over  his  eyes.  Rostof  felt  awk- 
ward every  time  that  he  did  so,  and  he  looked  down. 

*'  I  have  heard  of  things  like  that,  and  I  know  that 
the  sovereign  is -very  strict  in  such  cases.  I  think  it 
would  be  best  not  to  bring  it  to  his  majesty's  attention. 
In  my  opinion,  it  would  be  better  to  give  the  petition 

directly  to  the  commander  of  the  corps And,  as  a 

general  thing,  I  think...." 

"  Then  you  don't  care  to  do  anything.  Why  not  say 
it  right  out!" 

Rostof  almost  shouted,  not  looking  at  Boris's  eyes. 
VOL.  II.  —  21 


J22  WAR   AND    PEACE 

Boris  smiled.  "  On  the  contrary,  I  will  do  all  that  is 
in  my  power.      But  I  thought....  " 

At  this  moment,  Zhilinski's  voice  was  heard,  calling 
Boris  back. 

''Well,  go,  go,  go!"  said  Rostof,  and,  excusing  him- 
self from  the  supper,  and  remaining  alone  in  the  little 
chamber,  he  paced  for  a  long  time  up  and  down,  and 
listened  to  the  lively  French  conversation  in  the  adjoin- 
ing room. 


CHAPTER   XX 

No  day  could  have  been  more  unfavorable  for  pre- 
senting Denisof's  petition  to  the  emperor  than  that  on 
which  Rostof  went  to  Tilsit.  He  himself  could  not 
appear  in  the  presence  of  the  general-in-charge,  for 
the  reason  that  he  was  in  civilian's  dress,  and  had  come 
away  without  leave  of  absence;  and  Boris,  even  if  he 
had  had  the  best  will  in  the  world,  could  not  do  this  on 
the  day  that  followed  Rostof's  arrival  at  Tilsit. 

On  that  day,  the  ninth  of  July,  the  preliminary  articles 
of  peace  were  signed ;  the  emperors  exchanged  orders, 
Alexander  received  that  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  and 
Napoleon  that  of  Saint  Andrew  of  the  first  degree  ;  and 
on  that  same  day  a  dinner  was  to  be  given  to  the  Preo- 
brazhensky  battalion  by  the  battalion  of  the  French 
Guards.  The  emperors  had  both  agreed  to  be  present 
at  this  banquet. 

Rostof  felt  so  ill  at  ease,  and  so  offended  with  Boris, 
that  when,  after  the  supper  was  over,  Boris  came  back 
to  talk  with  him,  he  pretended  to  be  asleep,  and  on  the 
next  day  he  left  the  house  early  in  the  morning,  taking 
especial  pains  not  to  see  him. 

Nikolai,  in  his  civilian's  hat  and  coat,  wandered  about 
the  city,  gazing  at  the  French  and  their  uniforms,  study- 
ing the  streets  and  residences  where  the  French  and 
Russian  emperors  were  lodged.  On  the  square  he  saw 
tables  laid  out,  and  men  making  preparations  for  the 
banquet;    along  the   streets    he  beheld    draperies  with 


WAR   AND    PEACE  323 

the  Russian  and  French  colors  entwined,  and  the  letters 
A.  and  N.  in  monogram.  In  the  windows  of  the  houses 
there  were  also  flags  and  monograms. 

"  Boris  isn't  wilHng  to  help  me,  and  I  won't  have  any- 
thing more  to  do  with  him,  that's  a  settled  thing,"  said 
Nikolai  to  himself.  '*  It 's  all  over  between  us ;  but  I 
won't  leave  town  until  I  have  done  the  best  I  could  for 
Denisof ,  and  at  least  handed  his  petition  to  the  sovereign. 
To  the  sovereign?....  He  is  there!"  said  Rostof  to 
himself,  involuntarily  wandering  back  to  the  mansion 
occupied  by  Alexander. 

In  front  of  the  door  stood  saddle-horses,  and  the  suite 
were  assembling,  evidently  for  the  purpose  of  escorting 
his  majesty  on  a  ride. 

*'At  any  moment  I  may  see  him,"  said  Rostof  to 
himself.  "  If  I  could  only  put  the  letter  straight  into 
his  hands  !  But  would  n  't  they  arrest  me,  on  account  of 
being  out  of  uniform  ?  Impossible  !  He  would  under- 
stand on  whose  side  justice  lay.  He  understands  every- 
thing, he  knows  everything !  Who  could  be  more  just 
and  generous  than  he  .'*  Besides,  if  they  were  to  arrest 
iVic  foi  uciiig  heri.%  wh-^X  harm  would  it  be  .-* "  he  asked 
himself,  catching  sight  of  an  ofticei-  going  into  the  house 
where  the  emperor  lived.  "  It  seems  people  do  go  in ! 
Eh !  it 's  all  nonsense,  I  will  go  and  give  the  petition  to 
the  sovereign  myself,  —  so  much  the  worse  for  Drubet- 
skoi,  who  drives  me  to  it." 

And  suddenly,  with  a  resolution  which  was  unexpected 
even  to  himself,  Rostof  grasped  the  letter  in  his  pocket, 
and  went  straight  to  the  residence  occupied  by  his  sov- 
ereign. 

"  Now,  this  time  I  will  not  miss  my  chance,  as  I  did 
at  Austerlitz,"  he  said  to  himself,  expecting  every  mo- 
ment to  meet  the  emperor,  and  feeling  the  blood  rush 
to  his  heart  at  the  mere  thought.  ''  I  will  fall  at  his 
feet  and  beseech  him.  He  will  lift  me,  listen  to  me, 
and  even  thank  me.  *  I  am  glad  of  any  opportunity  of 
doing  good,  but  to  right  wrongs  is  my  greatest  hap- 
piness,' "  said  Rostof,  imagining  the  words  which  his 
sovereign  would  say  to  him.     And,  though  he  had  to 


324  WAR   AND    PEACE 

run  the  gauntlet  of  the  inquisitive  glances  fastened 
upon  him,  he  went  up  the  front  steps  of  the  imperial 
residence. 

From  the  porch,  a  broad  staircase  led  straight  up-stairs. 
At  the  right  was  a  half-open  door.  Below,  at  the  foot 
of  the  staircase,  was  still  another  door,  leading  to  the 
ground  floor. 

**  What  do  you  wish  ?  "  asked  some  one. 

"  To  give  a  letter,  a  petition,  to  his  majesty,"  said 
Rostof,  in  a  trembling  voice. 

"  A  petition  ?  It  should  go  to  the  general-in-charge ; 
please  pass  this  way,"  he  indicated  the  door  leading  to 
the  ground  floor.     **  But  he  won't  receive  it." 

On  hearing  this  voice,  so  cold  and  unconcerned,  Rostof 
was  panic-stricken  at  his  audacity ;  the  thought  that  he 
might  at  any  moment  meet  his  majesty  was  so  entranc- 
ing, and,  at  the  same  time,  so  terrible  to  him,  that  he 
felt  like  running  away,  but  the  kammer-fourrier,  who 
came  to  meet  him,  opened  the  door  into  the  general's 
office,  and  Rostof  went  in. 

A  short,  stout  man,  thirty  years  of  age,  in  white  trousers, 
Hessian  boots,  and  a  batiste  shirt  apparently  meant  for 
summer  only,  was  standing  in  this  room ;  a  valet  was 
behind  him,  buttoning  a  pair  of  handsome  new  braces, 
embroidered  in  silk,  as  Rostof  could  not  help  noticing. 
This  gentleman  was  talking  with  some  one  in  the  next 
room.  *'  Devilishly  well  made,"  this  man  was  just  say- 
ing, but,  when  he  caught  sight  of  Rostof,  he  stopped  and 
frowned. 

"  What  is  it  you  want  ?     A  petition  } " 

"  What  is  it  ? "  asked  the  individual  in  the  next  room. 

"  Another  petitioner,"  replied  the  man  in  the  braces. 

"  Tell  him  to  come  later.  He  's  going  out ;  we  've  got 
to  go  with  him." 

*'  Come  later,  to-morrow,  to-morrow.  It 's  too  late 
now  "  .... 

Rostof  turned  round  and  was  about  to  go,  when  the 
man  in  the  braces  stopped  him.  ''Who  is  it  from? 
Who  are  you  ?  " 

"It's  from  Major  Denisof,"  replied  Rostof. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  325 

"  And  who  are  you  ?     An  officer  ?  " 
"Yes,  a  lieutenant,  Count  Rostof." 
*'  What  audacity  !     Give  it  to  you^  general.     And  be- 
gone with  you,  begone."     And  he  began  to  put  on  the 
rest  of  the  uniform  handed  to  him  by  his  valet. 

Rostof  went  down  into  the  entry  again,  and  noticed 
that  on  the  steps  there  were  still  many  officers  and  gen- 
erals in  full  parade  uniform,  and  that  he  would  have  to 
pass  by  them  all.  Cursing  his  audacity,  his  heart  sink- 
ing within  him  at  the  thought  that  at  any  moment  he 
might  meet  the  sovereign,  and  be  mortified,  and  even 
put  under  arrest  in  his  presence,  appreciating  all  the 
impropriety  of  his  conduct,  and  regretting  it,  Rostof, 
with  downcast  eyes,  was  hastening  away  from  the  house, 
which  was  now  surrounded  by  the  glittering  officers  of 
the  suite,  when  a  well-known  voice  called  him  by  name, 
and  some  one's  hand  was  laid  on  his  shoulder. 

''Well,  batyushka,  what  are  you  doing  here  without  a 
uniform  ?  "  demanded  a  deep  bass  voice. 

This  was  a  general  of  cavalry,  formerly  commander  of 
the  division  in  which  Rostof  served.  During  that  cam- 
paign he  had  won  the  signal  favor  of  the  sovereign. 

Rostof  was  startled,  and  began  to  make  his  excuses, 
but  when  he  saw  the  general's  good-natured,  jocose  face, 
he  drew  him  to  one  side,  and  began,  in  a  voice  choked 
by  emotion,  to  lay  his  whole  case  before  him,  and  begged 
the  general  to  take  the  part  of  Denisof,  who  was  well- 
known  to  him.  The  general  listened  to  Rostof's  story 
and  shook  his  head  gravely.  ''  Pity,  pity  ;  he  's  :.  brave 
fellow  ;  give  me  his  letter." 

Rostof  had  only  just  handed  him  the  petition  and 
finished  telUng  Denisof's  whole  story,  when  quick  steps 
and  a  jingUng  of  spurs  were  heard  on  the  staircase,  and 
the  general,  leaving  him,  hurried  to  the  steps.  The 
gentlemen  composing  the  sovereign's  suite  were  hasten- 
ing down  from  the  staircase  and  going  to  their  horses. 
The  equerry,  Hayne,  the  same  one  who  had  accompan- 
ied the  sovereign  at  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  brought  up 
the  emperor's  steed,  and  then  on  the  staircase  was 
heard  the  slight  squeak  of  steps,  which  Rostof  instantly 


;^26  WAR    AND    PEACE 

knew.  Forgetting  his  apprehension  of  being  recog- 
nized, Rostof,  with  many  other  curious  spectators,  from 
among  the  natives,  went  close  to  the  doorsteps,  and 
again,  though  two  years  had  passed,  he  recognized  those 
adored  features,  the  same  face,  the  same  glance,  the 
same  gait,  the  same  union  of  majesty  and  sweetness. 
And  that  feeling  of  enthusiasm  and  love  for  his  sover- 
eign rose  in  Rostof's  soul  with  all  its  former  force. 

The  emperor  wore  the  Preobrazhensky  uniform,  white 
chamois  leather  breeches,  Hessian  boots,  with  the  star 
of  an  order  which  Rostof  did  not  know.  It  was  the 
Legion  d' Honneu7\  As  he  can:ie  out  on  the  steps,  he 
held  his  hat  under  his  arm  and  was  putting  on  his 
gloves.  He  paused,  glanced  around,  and  his  glance 
seemed  to  light  up  all  about  him.  He  said  a  few  words 
to  one  of  the  generals.  He  also  recognized  the  general 
who  had  been  formerly  commander  of  Rostof's  division, 
gave  him  a  smile,  and  beckoned  to  him. 

All  the  suite  moved  away  from  them,  and  Rostof 
noticed  that  this  general  held  a  rather  long  conversa- 
tion with  the  sovereign. 

The  emperor  said  a  few  words  in  reply,  and  took  a 
step  toward  his  horse.  Again  the  crowd  of  the  suite 
and  the  crowd  of  spectators,  with  Rostof  in  their 
number,  followed  after  the  emperor.  Standing  by  his 
steed,  with  his  arm  thrown  over  the  saddle,  the  sover- 
eign turned  to  the  cavalry  general,  and  spoke  in  a  loud 
voice,  evidently  intending  that  he  should  be  heard  by 
all:  — 

"  I  cannot,  general,  and  I  cannot  because  the  law  is 
more  powerful  than  I,"  said  the  emperor,  and  he  put 
his  foot  in  the  stirrup.  The  general  respectfully  in- 
clined his  head;  the  emperor  got  into  the  saddle  and 
rode  at  a  gallop  down  the  street.  Rostof,  forgetting 
himself  in  his  enthusiasm,  joined  the  crowd  and  ran 
after  him. 


WAR   AND    PEACE  327 


CHAPTER  XXI 

On  the  square  where  the  emperor  was  going,  the  bat- 
taUon  of  the  Preobrazhentsui  stood  facing  the  street  on 
the  right ;  on  the  left  stood  the  battahon  of  the  French 
Guards,  in  their  bearskin  caps. 

Just  as  the  sovereign  rode  up  toward  one  flank  of  the 
battahon,  which  presented  arms,  another  throng  of 
mounted  men  galloped  up  to  the  other  flank,  and  Rostof 
recognized  Napoleon  at  their  head.  It  could  have  been 
no  one  else.  He  rode  at  a  gallop,  wearing  his  cocked 
hat,  with  the  ribbon  of  Saint  Andrew  across  his  breast, 
with  his  blue  coat  unbuttoned  over  his  white  waistcoat. 
Riding  up  to  Alexander  on  his  Arabian  steed,  gray,  of 
extraordinarily  good  blood,  with  crimson  housings  em- 
broidered in  gold,  he  took  off  his  hat,  and,  at  this 
motion,  Rostof,  as  a  trained  cavalryman,  could  not  help 
noticing  that  Napoleon  sat  awkwardly  and  unsteadily 
on  his  horse.  The  battalions  shouted  *'  Hurrah  !  "  and 
"  Vive  Vempereiir!''  Napoleon  said  something  to  Alex- 
ander. Then  the  two  emperors  dismounted  and  shook 
hands.  Napoleon's  face  wore  a  disagreeably  artificial 
smile.  Alexander,  with  a  courteous  expression,  made 
some  remark  to  him. 

Rostof,  notwithstanding  the  trampling  of  the  horses 
of  the  mounted  gendarmes  constantly  backing  into  the 
throng,  followed  every  motion  of  the  two  emperors,  not 
taking  his  eyes  from  them.  It  struck  him  as  most 
extraordinary  that  Alexander  treated  Napoleon  as  an 
equal,  and  that  Bonaparte  bore  himself  toward  the  Rus- 
sian Tsar  also  as  an  equal,  as  if  this  proximity  to  the 
sovereign  were  perfectly  natural  and  usual  with  him. 

Alexander  and  Napoleon,  with  a  long  train  following 
them,  passed  alorrg  toward  the  right  wing  of  the  Preo- 
brazhensky  battalion,  straight  toward  the  throng  that 
had  collected  there.  By  some  chance,  the  throng  was 
allowed  to  press  so  near  the  emperors,  that  Rostof,  who 
found  himself  in  the  very  front  row,  felt  anxious  lest  he 
should  be  recognized. 


328  WAR    AND    PEACE 

"  Sire,  I  crave  permission  to  grant  the  Legion  of 
Honor  to  the  bravest  of  your  soldiers,"  said  a  shrill, 
precise  voice,  dwelling  on  every  syllable.  These  words 
were  spoken  by  the  diminutive  Bonaparte,  looking 
straight  up  into  Alexander's  eyes.  Alexander  listened 
attentively  to  what  he  said,  and  inclined  his  head  with  a 
pleasant  smile. 

"  To  the  one  who  conducted  himself  most  gallantly 
during  this  last  war,"  added  Napoleon,  laying  equal 
stress  on  each  syllable,  with  an  unconcern  and  self- 
confidence  which  aroused  Rostof's  indignation.  At  the 
same  time.  Napoleon  glanced  lound  on  the  ranks  of 
Russian  soldiery  drawn  up  before  him,  and  still  present- 
ing arms  and  immovably  looking  into  their  sovereign's 
face. 

"Will  your  majesty  permit  me  to  consult  with  the 
colonel } "  asked  Alexander,  and  he  made  a  few  hasty 
steps  toward  Prince  Kozlovsky,  the  commander  of  the 
battalion.  Bonaparte  began,  meantime,  to  be  drawing 
his  glove  from  his  small,  white  hand,  and  when  it  tore 
he  threw  it  away.  An  aide,  hastening  forward,  picked 
it  up. 

"  To  whom  shall  it  be  given  ? "  asked  the  Emperor 
Alexander,  in  a  low  tone,  in  Russian,  of  Kozlovsky. 

**Whom  would  you  designate,  your  majesty  ?  " 

The  sovereign  frowned  with  annoyance,  and  glancing 
round,  said  :  — 

"  Yes,  but  I  must  give  him  an  answer." 

Kozlovsky,  with  a  resolute  look,  glanced  along  the 
ranks,  and  his  eyes  rested  on  Rostof. 

''  He  could  n't  by  any  possibility  choose  me } "  said 
Rostof  to  himself. 

"Lazaref,"  commanded  the  colonel,  knitting  his 
brows,  and  the  first  man  in  the  front  rank  briskly 
stepped  forward.     This  was  Lazaref. 

**  Where  are  you  going  ?  Stand  there  !  "  whispered 
various  voices  to  Lazaref,  who  did  not  know  where  to 
go.  He  stood  in  trepidation,  looking  askance  at  his 
colonel,  and  his  face  twitched,  as  is  generally  the  case 
with  soldiers  summoned  to  the  front.     Napoleon  bent 


WAR   AND    PEACE  329 

his  head  back  a  little,  and  stretched  his  small,  plump 
hand  behind  him,  as  if  he  wished  something  to  be 
handed  him.  The  faces  of  his  suite,  who  at  that  instant 
surmised  what  was  going  to  take  place,  showed  some 
perplexity ;  there  was  whispering,  some  object  was 
handed  from  one  to  another,  and  a  page,  the  very  one 
whom  Rostof  had  seen  at  Boris's  the  evening  before, 
sprang  forward,  and,  respectfully  bowing  over  the  out- 
stretched hand,  and  not  causing  it  to  remain  a  single 
instant,  placed  in  it  an  order,  on  a  red  ribbon. 

Napoleon,  not  looking  at  it,  closed  two  fingers,  and 
retained  the  badge  between  them.  Then  he  went  up  to 
Lazaref,  who,  with  staring  eyes,  continued  to  gaze  stead- 
fastly at  his  sovereign  and  no  one  else.  Napoleon 
looked  at  the  Emperor  Alexander,  signifying  by  this 
that  what  he  was  doing  now  he  did  out  of  consideration 
for  his  ally.  The  little  white  hand  with  the  badge 
touched  the  button  of  the  soldier  Lazaref.  Napoleon 
seemed  to  realize  that  all  that  was  necessary  to  make 
this  soldier  forever  fortunate,  decorated,  and  distin- 
guished above  every  one  else  in  the  world  was  for  this 
white  hand  of  his  merely  to  touch  this  soldier's  breast ! 
Napoleon  simply  suspended  the  cross  on  the  soldier's 
chest,  and,  dropping  his  hand,  returned  to  where  Alex- 
ander was  standing,  as  if  he  knew  that  the  cross  must 
needs  stick  to  the  man's  breast.  And  the  cross  really 
did  stick  there ! 

Officious  Russian  and  French  hands  instantly  seized 
the  cross  and  fastened  it  to  the  man's  uniform.  Lazaref 
had  gazed  moodily  at  the  little  man  with  white  hands 
who  had  been  doing  something  to  him,  and  he  continued 
to  present  arms,  with  his  eyes  again  directed  straight  at 
Alexander's  face,  as  if  he  were  asking  his  sovereign 
whether  it  were  his  duty  still  to  stand  there,  or  whether 
he  should  go  back,  or  whether  there  was  anything  else 
for  him  to  do.  But  as  no  orders  were  given  him,  he 
stood  in  exactly  the  same  motionless  attitude  for  some 
time. 

The  sovereigns  mounted  and  rode  away.  The  Preo- 
brazhentsui,  breaking  ranks,  began  to  mingle  with  the 


330  WAR    AND    PEACE 

French  Guardsmen,  and  took  their  seats  at  the  tables 
which  had  been  prepared  for  them. 

Lazaref  was  assigned  to  the  seat  of  honor,  Russian 
and  French  officers  pressed  around  him,  congratulated 
him,  and  shook  hands  with  him.  A  throng  of  officers 
and  the  public  crowded  around,  merely  to  get  a  sight 
of  the  man.  The  hum  of  conversation  in  French  and 
Russian,  and  bursts  of  hearty  laughter,  began  to  be  heard 
around  the  table  erected  in  the  square. 

Two  officers,  with  flushed  faces,  feeling  gay  and 
happy,  passed  by  Rostof.  "What  a  treat,  brother!  All 
served  on  silver  !  "  said  one.     "  Did  you  see  Lazaref  ?  " 

"I  did!  " 

"  To-morrow,  they  say,  the  Preobrazhentsui  are  going 
to  give  them  a  dinner." 

"  Is  that  so  .''  What  luck  for  Lazaref  !  twelve  hun- 
dred francs  pension  for  life !  " 

"  How  's  that  for  a  cap,  children  !  "  cried  a  Preobra- 
zhenets,  putting  on  a  Frenchman's  shaggy  bearskin. 

"  Marvelously  fine  ;  very  becoming  !  " 

**  Have  you  heard  the  countersign  ? "  asked  one 
Guardsman  of  another.  "  Day  before  yesterday,  it  was 
^Napoleon,  France,  bravoiire  !'  Yesterday,  ' Alexandre ^ 
Riissie,  grandeur' \  one  day  our  sovereign  gives  the 
watchword,  and  the  next.  Napoleon.  To-morrow  the 
sovereign  is  going  to  confer  the  George  on  the  bravest 
of  the  Guards.  He  can't  help  it.  He  's  got  to  keep 
up  his  end  !  " 

Boris  and  his  friend  Zhilinski  also  came  out  to  wit- 
ness the  banquet  to  the  Preobrazhentsui.  As  they  re- 
turned, Boris  noticed  Rostof  standing  near  the  corner 
of  a  house. 

"Hullo,  Rostof!  Good-morning;  we  missed  each 
other,"  said  he,  and  he  could  not  refrain  from  asking 
what  had  happened  to  him,  so  strangely  dark  and  dis- 
turbed was  Rostof's  face. 

"  Nothing,  nothing,"  replied  Rostof. 

"  Will  you  join  us  .''  " 

"Yes,  by  and  by." 

Rostof  stood  for  a  long  time  by  the  house-corner,  gaz- 


WAR   AND    PEACE  331 

ing  at  the  feasters.  His  mind  was  filled  with  painful 
reflections  which  he  could  never  bring  to  a  satisfactory 
conclusion.  Strange  doubts  had  risen  in  his  mind.  Now 
he  recalled  Denisof  and  the  change  that  had  come  over 
him,  and  his  obstinacy,  and  the  whole  hospital,  with  those 
amputated  legs  and  arms,  with  all  that  filth  and  disease. 
It  came  up  so  vividly  in  his  imagination,  at  that  instant, 
he  had  such  a  lively  sense  of  that  fetid  odor  of  putrefac- 
tion, and  that  dead  body,  that  he  glanced  around  to  see 
what  might  be  the  cause  of  it.  Then,  in  contrast,  he 
recalled  that  self-conceited  Bonaparte,  with  his  little 
white  hand :  he  was  emperor  now,  the  loved  and  valued 
friend  of  the  Emperor  Alexander !  For  what  purpose, 
then,  all  those  amputated  legs  and  arms,  and  those  men 
killed  ?  Then  he  remembered  Lazaref  rewarded,  and 
Denisof  punished  and  unforgiven.  He  found  himself  in- 
dulging in  such  strange  thoughts  that  he  was  frightened. 

The  savor  of  the  viands  and  the  pangs  of  hunger  drove 
him  out  of  this  mood ;  he  had  to  get  something  to  eat 
before  going  back.  He  went  into  an  inn  which  he  had 
seen  that  morning.  He  found  so  many  people  there, 
and  so  many  officers,  who,  like  himself,  had  come  in  citi- 
zen's dress,  that  he  had  difficulty  in  getting  dinner. 

Two  officers  of  the  same  division  as  his  own  joined 
him.  The  conversation  naturally  turned  on  the  peace. 
These  officers,  Rostof's  friends,  like  the  majority  of  the 
army,  were  dissatisfied  with  the  peace  which  had  been 
concluded  after  Friedland.  They  maintained  that,  if 
only  they  had  held  out  a  little  longer.  Napoleon  would 
have  laid  down  his  arms,  that  he  had  no  supplies  or 
ammunition  for  his  troops. 

Nikolai  ate  in  silence,  and  kept  drinking.  He  alone 
drank  two  bottles  of  wine.  The  inner  conflict  which 
had  risen  in  his  soul,  instead  of  finding  solution,  tor- 
mented him  more  than  ever.  He  was  afraid  to  express 
his  thoughts,  and  he  could  not  get  rid  of  them.  Sud- 
denly, at  the  remark  of  one  of  the  officers  that  it  was  a 
humiliation  to  look  at  the  French,  Rostof  began  to  de- 
claim with  a  heat  and  violence  wholly  uncalled  for,  and 
therefore  very  amazing  to  the  officers. 


332  WAR   AND    PEACE 

"And  how,  pray,  can  you  decide  what  would  have 
been  best  ?  "  he  shouted,  his  face  flushing  suddenly  crim- 
son. "  Why  do  you  judge  the  sovereign's  actions  ?  What 
right  have  we  to  sit  in  judgment  on  him  ?  We  cannot 
appreciate  or  understand  the  sovereign's  actions !  " 

*'  But  I  have  n't  said  a  word  about  the  sovereign," 
replied  the  officer,  who  could  not  explain  Rostof's  vio- 
lence on  any  other  ground  than  that  he  was  drunk. 

But  Rostof  did  not  heed  him. 

*'  We  are  not  diplomatic  chinovniks ;  we  are  soldiers 
and  nothing  else,"  he  went  on  to  say.  **  We  are  com- 
manded to  die,  and  we  die.  And  if  we  are  punished, 
then  of  course  we  must  be  to  blame ;  it  is  n't  for  us  to 
criticise.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  sovereign,  the  emperor, 
to  recognize  Bonaparte  as  emperor,  and  to  conclude 
peace  with  him  ;  then,  of  course,  it  must  be  so.  For  if 
we  once  begin  to  criticise  and  sit  in  judgment,  then  there 
will  be  nothing  sacred  left.  We  shall  be  declaring  that 
there  is  no  God,  no  nothing! "  screamed  Nikolai,  pounding 
the  table  with  his  fist  with  quite  unnecessary  vehemence, 
as  his  friends  felt ;  in  reality  it  was  demanded  by  his 
feelings.  "  It 's  our  business  to  fulfil  our  duty,  to  fight, 
and  not  to  think,  and  that 's  the  end  of  it,"  he  said  in 
conclusion. 

"  And  drink,"  said  one  of  the  officers,  wishing  to  avoid 
a  quarrel. 

**  Yes,  and  drink,"  replied  Nikolai".  "  Hey^  there  ! 
another  bottle  !  "  he  cried! 


END   OF  VOL.  II, 


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